


Victory Verse

by Salustra



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complete, M/M, POV First Person, Possible Redemption, radical tone changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 05:02:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 28
Words: 46,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salustra/pseuds/Salustra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SUMMARY- </p><p>This was intended to be a series of mostly lighter stories in planned AU Season 5 Ats.  I chose a Verse so the stories could just stand on their own.  And suddenly there was a massive arc and lo, a chaptered WIP and I can't stop with it.  At any rate, it starts with a very pushy Spike invading Angel's penthouse late the night of the battle in the opera house in 'Destiny'.</p><p>NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections.  I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic.  I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spoils of Victory

**Author's Note:**

> CONTENT: vague mentions of m/m sex, bad language.  
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> CHANGES TO CANON- My regular readers know this, but I choose to believe canon as stated in the first place with Angelus as Spike's sire and view the later stuff from Fool for Love as a retcon I ignore. Not just in this story but in almost all my stories.

It had been a long night. A really, really long night. Things going haywire in the office, for a start. Then Spike...I had to sigh. I can't believe he beat me. It never occurred to me he'd be able to do it. He's gotten so strong. I mean two, maybe three Slayers? I...I mean Angelus...never killed even one. Too fond of my unlife to risk it fighting a Slayer needlessly. The rotten brat, never would listen. Always picked fights with the biggest and the baddest he could find. And it probably didn't hurt that up til recently he was feeding on humans, not animals. But still...I've got 150 years or so on him, I should've been able to take him. 

Well anyhow, all the paperwork is done, all the decisions that needed to be made are made. And at least for once, since Spike isn't a damn ghost any longer, I'll be able to sleep without him turning up in my bedroom. I get into the elevator and take it up. And then the door whooshes open, and the blaring television and other noises lets me know someone else is here. Fuck. I'm about to call security when the combination of his laughter and the scent of him lets me know it's Spike. Okay, this calls for the extra-heavy value-sized sigh. Now I'll have to evict him before I could get any sleep. 

I head to the living room. I can hear the television blaring that's where he is. He's sitting on the floor, his duster laying draped over my favorite chair. He's surrounded by a few empty bottles of my _best_ whiskey, damn him, and piles of junk food that he must have brought with him. I don't keep any food in my kitchen, only blood and booze. Food doesn't have any flavor to me. Spike is like Darla that way, got the hedonist nature and the easy way of seducing and the ability to taste food. At the moment that fact annoys me more than it should. 

"Spike!" I bark, and he turns his head to look. He's got that grin, the one he knows ticks me off no end. 

"Hello ponce," he says, his speech just slurred enough to tell me the booze had started to affect him. "Come down here and join me. Carpet party, just like in Pretty Woman." 

I growl. "What. Are. You. Doing here?" I cross my arms across my chest and give my best disapproving meancing glare. 

The little shit raises an eyebrow at me. Then he giggles. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate that he can giggle without sounding girly? Then he says, "Didn't I just kick your arse all over that opera house in Death Valley?"

I frown at the non-sequitur. "What does that have to do with anything?" 

He snorts at me. "Din't you always teach me whoever won the bloody fight got what he wanted from the loser?"

I blanch a little. No one's topped me since, well, Darla. "You don't mean you want to...?" 

"Don't flatter yourself. Nah, I got no place to live now that I'm all fleshy again. I'm moving in. Oh, and I'm sharing the bed, unless you want to move to the couch." He flashes another one of those cocky grins at me. 

I wonder if it's possible to dislocate something sighing, because I come pretty close. "Would it do any good to say no?" 

"Not a bit, no," Spike says. 

I'm definitely getting too old for this shit.


	2. Temptation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angel, implied Spike/Wes  
> SUMMARY: Angel is having problems with Spike in the penthouse. Done for tamingthemuse #347-sister.  
> CONTENT: m/m sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Okay, so I was having my 'morning brood', as Harmony calls it. And it's about Spike, of course, what else? 

I sipped my blood. Otter again, not bad. As ditzy as Harmony could be, she at least managed to handle the little things properly. 

I sighed. Take all the mental detours you want, I told myself. It was not going to solve the problem at hand. Spike. 

Living with Spike was...untidy. Not the mess of his whirlwind of activity and junk food, the maid service could handle that. Though I had to authorize overtime and bonuses to keep the penthouse in a reasonable state of tidiness. 

No, it was the whole, umm, question of Spike. He refused to keep any kind of decorum. He slept naked, and no amount of pleading, bribing, or threatening had so far managed to change that. So as a result we ended up waking up tangled together, usually with my, ummm, cock pressed against his ass in one state or another of arousal. Then that cheeky little brat had always smiled at me, commented in some snarky way about my cock, and meanwhile his was hard too, and I could never manage to find anything clever to reply with. Then, _then_ , to add insult to injury, he would get up and head off to the shower to very loudly masturbate. By the time he would finish I could use my cock as a deadly weapon, and I had to pass him all damp and clad only in a towel as I get in and had to beat off myself. 

And he wouldn't stay dressed! As soon as we would get off the elevator he would be peeling things off, and he would be walking around in just his jeans or losing the jeans and pulling on silk boxers. Boxers, by the way, _I_ bought him to sleep in, not parade around the penthouse looking like sin. And it was just not fair! I meant...oh hell, I was not even sure what I meant. I had been fighting with him so long it was damn inconvenient now to want to fuck him into the nearest handy surface. 

He kept ignoring my attempts to hint at, you know, maybe us getting some action together. Of course I was hopelessly out of practice trying anything like this. He was the one all practiced at seduction. I sighed again. And now there was this _thing_ with Wesley. I didn't know what else to call it. I kept catching them kissing and making out and half the time Spike was reeking of him at the end of the day. It didn't help I found Wesley attractive, always had, and the idea of the two of them together...Well, I had to stay sitting at my desk for a long time after picturing it. That or another shower. Argh. 

If this kept up, I didn't know what I was going to do. I'd forgotten how good he smelled after a shower, how perfect and silky his skin was. I'd forgotten how fucking sexy he was. I growled. Okay, let me be honest, I still thought of him as mine. My property. And I wanted to grab him and claim him and to hell with everything else. I wanted to make him beg and mewl and all those lovely damn noises he made in the heat of passion. I wanted to see his face when he climaxed, I wanted to hold him afterwards and feel that purr against my chest. I wanted it so much it made my throat grip up and my whole body ache with the need for it to happen. 

And then there was the other thing. This little thought that had been picking at me since that first night. What the hell would it have been like if he claimed the traditional reward? I had never, umm, gone there with a male of any kind. Darla used to use 'implements', and I had some pleasant memories of how that felt, but that had been a hundred years ago, and she was mostly intending to put me in my place when she used them. I'd seen the blissful looks of Spike and Penn and others on the receiving end and I couldn't help but be curious about it. 

I was still brooding when everyone arrived for the morning meeting. I suppressed a growl when Spike and Wes walked in together. They both looked mussed and Wes' eyes were slightly glazed. I could smell them all over each other. I took a deeper breath. No smells of sex, thank God. I did _not_ know how I would handle it if they had sex. But both of them reeked of arousal and I had to somehow make it through this meeting while these scents hung in the air. Odd, Fred was staring intently at Wes and smiling and trying to get his attention. What was that about? 

Okay, just slowly working through the agenda. I could do this. Okay, good, the meeting was over. "Wes, can you stay behind for a minute? I need to talk to you about something." 

Wes exchanged some kind of look with Spike. Then Wes nodded. "Of course," he said. 

Spike and the others left. I got up and locked the door. "Okay, Wes, what is going on with you and Spike?" 

"Me and Spike?" Wes asked. "What do you mean?" 

"Wes, Wes, you know vampire senses. _What_ is going on?" 

Wes chuckled very softly and shook his head. "I figured actually you'd speak to me more quickly than this about it. Angel, I swear you can be obstinately blind when you choose to be." 

I furrowed my brow. "What are you talking about?" 

"He's trying to make you jealous enough to make a move. Also, he's helping me get Fred to notice me and _that's_ working perfectly."

I frowned. "So, you weren't, ummm, enjoying this?" 

Wes grinned. "Well kissing Spike is much better than kissing my sister, so to speak. He's really, really good." He looked at me very intently. "If you're honestly so stubborn you decide you don't want him, let me know. I think Fred might be willing to go for a threesome." 

"Fred?" I'm certain I looked dumbstruck. "You think...Fred...?" 

"She's not as innocent as she looks. And I know she finds Spike attractive too. Hell, half the office staff would go with him if he asked. Don't be stupid, Angel. If you want him, let him know. Don't hold back." Wes leaned in and put his hand on my shoulder. "Be happy, at least a little, for a change." 

"Thanks, Wes." I sighed. "You can go on now, I've got some things I need to think about." 

"I would imagine so." Wes smiled and turned to leave. 

"Oh, and Wes? Try not to kiss him today." 

Wes laughed. "I'll try." 

 

So now I'd spent half the day thinking about this, and the other half pretty vainly trying to concentrate on my actual work. It was no good. I had to settle this thing soon. I clicked the intercom. "Harmony, cancel the rest of my appointments. I'm quitting early. Oh, and in about twenty minutes, call Spike and ask him to come to the penthouse." 

Harmony's chirpy voice answered, "Sure thing boss." I'm almost certain I heard her giggle after she clicked off the intercom. Did everyone know about this thing with Spike except me? 

I went upstairs. Don't hold back, Wes said. I'd tried dropping hints and making little suggestions. So I might as well go for it now. I stripped out of my clothes and tossed them aside. I closed my eyes and thought about Spike. I thought about how he looked in the morning when we woke up pressed together. I thought of how he felt, how he smelled. I could feel the charge crackle over my skin, feel myself hardening in response. I thoughr of him in the shower, the noise he made, what they made me want to do to him. 

I heard the elevator open. Spike started speaking as soon as the doors parted. "Awright, what the bloody hell did you get me up here for? I was just headed..." He stopped. He looked at me. 

Good, speechless for once. I didn't give him a chance to recover. I moved in quickly, grabbing him and pushing him against the wall, kissing him fiercely. He groaned in response, and melted against me the way he used to. My hands started pulling off his clothes and then it was a scramble between us both to get all the clothing off him. I grabbed him and kissed him again and he wrapped his arms around my neck. I put my hands on his thighs and lifted him, and he wrapped his legs around my waist. 

I carried him off to the bedroom, laying him back onto the bed. He looked at me, his gaze so intense I swear it burned me. I leaned over him, crawling onto the bed, and I pushed his legs apart. There would be time for slow and sweet later, right now I needed to be inside him, and he needed me to claim him, to let him know I wanted him. I stopped just long enough to grab lube from the bedside table, thank god I kept it there for wanking purposes. 

Spike drew his knees up, putting his feet flat on the bed, and stretched and arched, opening himself for me. I could barely manage a hasty lubing for us both before I was pushing inside him. Oh holy fuck it had been so long, he was so damn tight. He wrapped arms around my neck again and rocked back against me, impaling himself on me. 

"Goddamn it, Angel, took you long enough," he groaned. 

"Shut up, Spike," I answered, though there was a grin on my face as I said it. "Trying to concentrate on fucking you now." 

That shut him up, though it did get a chuckle, and his short nails clawed at my back as he triedto push onto me as eagerly as I was shoving into him. I groaned. He always knew exactly how to spur me on. I gripped his hips and moved deeper into him, feeling him open for me. Fuck why didn't I do this a lot sooner? I stopped when I was inside him, gazing into his eyes. "Spike..." I trailed off. I couldn't find the words. 

He nodded, lifting his head to kiss at the hollow of my throat. "Words later. Shag me now." 

I groaned at that and began, my hips moving back, then slamming into him with all my strength. He moved perfectly with me. Its like we were one being. I could feel my skin prickle with the perfection of it as I kept up the rhythm, in and out, ramming hard into him, like I was trying to merge myself into him. Meanwhile he clung onto me and his mouth was all over my throat and chest and shoulders, kissing and licking and nipping. I knew I didn't even sound human now as I took him as roughly as I could. I was growling and roaring like a beast, dropping into a primal state. I was vaguely aware of Spike's responses, softer purr-growls and other sweet noises. 

We were not even fucking now, it was mating. It was what I had with him and no one else, ever. My favored child. He was supposed to be with me forever, dammit. Never leave. Mine. "Mine," I growled. 

"Yours," he breathed back, nipping with blunt teeth on my neck. Fuck, he made me want to drop my teeth and bite, but right now I didn't know if I could control myself if I did. I only had the faintest touch of control over myself as it was. So I channeled that need down, gripping his legs and lifting them, opening him more, shoving in deeper and harder as he howled and arched for me. 

This couldn't last. It was too intense, too crazed, and had been too long for us both. We could feel the need pulling us both towards completion. I could tell he was going to let go first, and I rolled my hips enough to hit that spot inside him, pushing him over the edge. His roar as he came was like a panther, and the sound of it danced over my skin. I cannot hold it for long after that but I tried, every stroke pushing me higher until I fell, plunging into him, falling over the abyss. 

I wasn't even entirely conscious of myself for a small eternity after. I'd somehow rolled onto my back and Spike was laying draped across me, softly purring. My hand lifted to stroke his hair, and I had the goofiest grin on my face. 

He lifted his head. "So kissing Wes worked?" 

I sighed but my grin didn't disappear. "Yes, you're a genius. Now shut up for a while and let me just enjoy." 

Spike chuckled but he didn't talk again, just purred louder. 

He was back in my life and my bed now. And I knew he was going to be a pain in the ass and complicate things _so_ much. And I found I didn't really care if at the end of the day I got this. I felt more at peace than I had in ages, and so happy. Though not _perfectly_ happy, thank heavens.


	3. Experimentation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angel  
> SUMMARY: Angel decides to let Spike try something different. Done for tamingthemuse #348-papaya.  
> CONTENT: m/m sex. (Note: Spike topping, not my usual.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

I hated to admit it but life had gotten so much better with Spike around. He was a mess, still, that hadn't changed. But things were, ummm, lively. He was always doing something. There was music, there was telly, there was whatever he cooked for dinner. Yes, he made me eat dinner. He told me if I kept eating, the food would start to have flavor. I sighed. I really, really hated it when he was right. He made me this dish with papaya and beef last night, and it was wonderful. No, I hadn't magically stopped brooding or anything. But I did brood a lot less. 

And then, of course, there was the sex. I had to admit that was amazing. A hundred years, you forgot just how good it could be. Harmony teased me about how I almost smiled when she brought me my blood now. The sex, yeah, that was the best part. And after. That was the other thing you forgot, how good it was to have someone beside you. To wake up with someone against you. And Spike, I had to admit, was damn near angelic when he was asleep. His hair was mussed and in soft curls, his whole face relaxed into a gentle smile. When he was curled against me, like a kitten, he usually purred. I got up in the middle of the night to watch him when he slept. He looked liked the eternal child that Angelus saw, that he made just for himself. When he looked like that I got all possessive, just wanted to wrap him up and keep him forever. 

So it was what happened this morning that had me irritated. By irritated I meant ready to kick someone's ass if I figured out which ass needed kicking. We had our morning meeting, as usual, pretty typical day. The entire time Spike was trying to tease me under the table. Again, pretty typical, he normally worked me up enough to take him hard and fast somewhere in the office after the meeting. 

But as everyone was leaving, I caught Spike watching Wes as he left. I meant, really watching, as in ogling him and getting a bit aroused. Like he didn't know I could smell that! After Wes left the room, I let out a low growl. Spike had the temerity to stare at me innocently. 

"What's the problem, kemosabe?" Spike quipped. 

"The _problem_ is you staring at Wes' ass." 

"It is a very nice ass. And it's not like I'm ever getting a piece of yours." Spike grinned wickedly. 

Now that stopped me. And brought back up the little idea that I had been toying with since the night Spike barged into my penthouse and my bed. I took a long pause, staring into Spike's eyes. "You really want my ass?" I had to suppress a little chuckle at Spike's expression and the pause he took. 

"You're having me on," Spike said at last. 

"No. Serious question, Spike. Besides as you've said often enough, I can't tell a joke to save my unlife." 

"Well that's true enough," Spike responded. He tilted his head, looking at me, expression very speculative. "I really do, you know. Never thought it was on offer. Certainly not with Angelus." 

"It is now." I hold his gaze. "Been thinking about it for a while." 

"Yeah. So how do we do this?" 

I hit the intercom button. "Harmony..."

"Cancel all your appointments, I figured boss." 

"Yes. Good." I clicked off the intercom. "Upstairs," I said to Spike. I didn't know if my eagerness and anticipation showed, but Spike hustled without even a witty aside. 

We made it upstairs and there were clothes and shoes strewn in a path from the elevator to the bedroom. Then we were there, looking at each other, unsure of how to proceed. I couldn't take any more, and pulled him into a kiss. It was one hell of a kiss. I was nervous, and so excited, and apparently he was too, because it was electric between us, and Spike dragged his short nails down my back, leaving slight welts and making me hard. One of my buttons he could push. I think it was one of the reasons I could trust him and no one else for this. He knew my body better than anyone else, knew every spot and trick to excite me. 

When we broke the kiss, Spike grinned wickedly. I could tell he was enjoying the idea of taking my ass. Probably something he didn't ever figured on happening, and until recently, neither did I. He walked around behind me, and his hands stroked over the welts he'd left, trailing down, then pausing to stroke in the dip of my back just above my ass. Yet another spot, and he made me groan by gently teasing with his fingers there. Then he let loose with a smack on one asscheek. 

"Ow!" I reacted more with surprise than anything else. 

"Across the bed," he said, with the air of giving an order. 

Okay, so that was kind of sexy. I stepped forward and crawled onto the bed, laying down with my head supported on crossed arms. Spike went over to the cabinet we had stocked with our various supplies and toys. The lube was there and I hoped that was all he was going for. With Spike, really, I couldn't be sure. I could feel the weight as he crawled up onto the bed. Then he straddled my back, sitting back on my ass. Not quite the position I'd expected, to be sure. "Spike, what are you...?"

"Shush, you. Have a little faith," Spike answered. I had my answer soon enough. He'd opened a jar of some kind, and I could hear him rubbing something in his hands. Then the hands came down on my shoulders and I was groaning. Massage oil. Spike and I did do the massage thing on each other from time to time, and he made the same joyful noises when I'd do it for him. Spike began rubbing and kneading, working across, hitting all the spots. Oddly enough we'd both learned this in the same place. I'd taken him to a brothel in London, back in the day, with Chinese ladies who specialized in massage, and I'd paid one of the more talented ladies to teach us both. It stood us in good stead with our ladies as well as each other, been worth every penny. 

Spike was massaging my neck, then he started working down my spine and fanning out over my back. I could feel each knot of tension letting go, and I could feel myself relax. Then he reached the dip on my back again. Then each touch both relaxed the muscles and sent electricity dancing along my spine. I felt myself harden, and I wriggled a bit under Spike. That brought another smack on my ass. It wasn't playful. 

"Stay still," Spike said, his voice very clipped and commanding. It was the same thing I'd done to him countless times and I was surprised to feel a little charge at it. He was seriously topping me, not just playing at it. I stilled myself, and was rewarded with his hands moving onto my ass as Spike pushed my thighs apart and knelt between them. 

I felt the trickle of oil down the divide between my cheeks, and Spike worked some of it onto my ass, kneading the muscle and drawing moans from me. While he'd never taken me he often touched my ass, even an occasional exploratory finger, and it always turned me on. The rest of the oil started a slow drip and ooze down around my nether entrance. Spike moved his thumbs between my cheeks, slowly rubbing the oil around, getting closer and closer to it, finally slipping an oiled thumb into me. I gasped and gripped the sheets, tensing my muscles to hold still. 

"Mmm, someone likes this, I see," Spike said. I'd honestly never heard the tone of voice he was using, so cocksure and dominant. Was this the voice his other lovers heard? I found myself irrationally jealous they got something from him that I didn't. Yeah, I was damn possessive. I wanted all of Spike, all to myself. I had to periodically fight the urge to cage him or chain him up. The only thing that stopped me was knowing he'd lose something of himself, He was a social creature, always has been. So I settled for having every bit of him I could get. 

"Yes, fuck yes," I groaned out. His attention moved there now entirely, that one thumb pushing into me, loosening me, while the other rubs down my perineum, back and forth, making me moan and fight hard not to move. I was so hard I could feel my cock pulse. This was so new to me, having to be the patient one, having to stay still and receive. It was so much harder than I thought, so excruciating and so exciting. Fuck. I had new respect for Spike now, for what he did with such grace each time. 

He stopped his attentions entirely, and I found myself wanting to whine, just like he did. The times Darla made me bend over for her, they weren't like this. It was domination sex, just reminding me of my place. Nothing like this. This was so intense, so intimate. He slid one hand down my back soothingly. "Shh, shh, just getting the lube. Have to loosen you up for me." I dropped my head and nodded. It was all I could manage right now, the thought of him getting to the serious preparation had me overwhelmed. 

I could hear him squirting the lube, then I felt a cold plastic thing enter my ass. It was fairly narrow, and for a moment it eluded me what's going on. Then I remembered the lube I got like this, meant to squirt out to make prep quicker and easier. Sure enough I could feel the cool lube squirt deep into me, then the little nozzle left. Spike gripped one asscheek with one of his hands, easing it over to give easier access to me. Then he was pushing at me with two fingers, working to push past the initial ring of muscle. I tried to relax, to open to him, but it was so damn hard to relax while all my other muscles are tensed to hold me still. How did he do this when I was coming at him with my massive cock? 

The ring of muscle opened to him finally, and I grunted slightly as his fingers push deep into me. The stretch was both mildly uncomfortable and pleasurable. He worked his fingers, plunging and twisting them in me. He didn't do this long before a third finger joined the other two. I grunted louder this time, as the stretch became slightly more painful. Spike's hand stroked soothingly down my back again, and he kept patiently working the fingers as I slowly began to relax. His fingers kept plunging and twisting, stretching me, and the pleasure level increased gradually as I relaxed. I closed my eyes, just savoring this. He was really good at it. The niggling thought popped into my brain, how often had he done this to get so good? I told my brain to shut up and enjoy it. 

I could hear the squicking sound of him slicking lube on his cock, and I took in a breath, anticipating what was to come. I didn't have long to wait before his fingers pulled out of me and his hands were on my ass, holding me open. Then the head of his cock pressed against me, and I panted a little. I was trying to relax but I was too excited. I wanted this a hell of a lot more than I ever let on, even to myself apparently. Spike just kept up a steady gentle pressure, and ever so gradually the ring of muscle let go and Spike was inside me. "Oh god," I moaned. 

"Just me," Spike said with a chuckle. It was an in-joke with us, an echo of what I often said to Spike if he used that exclamation during sex. It got a chuckle from me too and made it easier to relax, and Spike sank deeper into me. 

Then he hit that spot. Oh lord, now I knew why he made those noises. It was a bomb inside my head, the pleasure that flashed. I made some incoherent noises and Spike leaned over to kiss the nape of my neck. He knew from his own experience what was happening to me. He rocked now in small arcs, hitting it again and again, and rendering me almost into a babbling idiot for a few minutes. All tension was gone now, that was for certain. 

Spike gripped my hips and pushed in deep, seating himself all the way into me. I panted, and he leaned over again to whisper in my ear, low and hoarse. "You can move now, if you're good." That should have made me chuckle but it didn't. He made it believable. I don't think I realized til this moment that Spike really had grown up while we were parted. That he chose to be my boy again, he didn't have to be. It was one of those shattering moments that happens so quickly and yet seems to take eternity and when it was over Spike was moving in me, and I was lifting my hips to push back against him. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't like I'd thought. It was so much more. Fuck, I had to wonder if Spike ever went all metaphysical when I was buggering him senseless? I wasn't sure if I had the nerve to ask him that question. 

Spike leaned down and nipped my shoulders, my back, the nape of my neck. It pulled me out of any temptation to spiritual flights of fancy and back into primal present reality. I groaned and gripped the other edge of the bed, holding on as Spike started to slam into me in earnest. I felt the crinkle as the ridges on my face emerged and my fangs dropped. I had to shake hard and force that demon side back down. This was not a dominance contest. I _wanted_ this. Spike apparently felt the shift in my mood and changed the angle of his thrusts, hitting that spot inside every few times he sank inside me. There was so much pleasure again I could barely see, let alone think of any stupid dominance rules. 

I was almost ashamed of how little time it took me to utterly lose control and climax. I counted myself lucky Spike hadn't tried any of the crap I often pulled on him, making him defer his orgasms, because I wouldn't have managed it. Spike didn't stop though, he kept on a while longer til he finally let go inside me. Just as well. I was busy trying to pull myself together enough to be able to move or form coherent words. Holy hell, a nuclear bomb went off when I came. 

I wasn't entirely sure how it happened, he must have cleaned us both up, and we were cuddled together. Him on my chest as usual. At least _some_ things didn't change. I felt the goofiest blissful smile on my face and I didn't care. I also knew it wouldn't be the last time for this particular new experience Spike brought into my life.


	4. Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER: Angel gets cursed, and Spike has to help break it.  
> PAIRING: Spike/Angel; Spike/Villain (see Chapter Content)   
> CONTENT: torture, non-con sex, tentacle rape, psychological damage. 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

Morning. I really, really hated mornings. Especially when it was just me and a pile of paperwork downstairs. Spike had left early, he was helping Fred with some scientific thing. I trudged to the elevator, then emerged in the office. My mug of blood was waiting, and a package. As I got closer I saw it was a wrapped present. The note on it said, 'From Spike'. 

Okay, I admit that made me smile. Nice to know he was thinking about me, though he probably bought this with one of my credit cards. I slid the top off the box and there was a loud flash and a bang. I found myself pushed back a bit. When my vision cleared, I struggled to make sense of what I saw. My vision was partly obscured and it looked as if I were floating a few inches above the floor. I tried to reach for the intercom button and found myself unable to, as if there were a clear barrier around me. I shouted, "Harmony!" 

Harmony scrambled into the office with a worried look. My bellows for her were generally bad news, often directed at her. She blinked as she looked at me. "Ummm, boss, you're like in a giant bubble." 

"Great." I scowled. "Get Wesley, get Fred, get everyone," I barked out. 

"Right away boss." She scurried off and I was left alone in my bubble.

I tried to move and found I could make tiny steps. I could almost feel the bubble under my feet, like distant pressure. My sight blurred slightly as it moved, reflections on the bubble's surface I guessed. If the bubble hit moveable things and I was walking, they were pushed aside. So the desk moved, and the other chair moved, and I was in the middle of the room. I could feel the reverberations in the bubble when it hit something, but that was it. I couldn't feel the bubble itself. I tried reaching up or forward or bending down, it always shifted to be out of reach. 

Just to test it, I tried sitting down. I found myself hovering in mid-air in the middle of the bubble. I stood up and I was in the same position as before. Then I lay down. The bubble expanded and I also found myself hovering in mid-air. Okay, just freaky. 

Wes and the others came running into the office. Once inside, they stopped. "Okay, Wes, what is this?" I ask him. 

"I'm not sure. When did this start?" 

"I opened the stupid gift box on my desk. It was labeled from Spike. I'm guessing this wasn't from him."

Spike came in then, and leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Not from me, no." 

Wes started casting some small detection spells, and Fred got out some of her scientific instruments. 

Several hours and a lot of research later, Wes came back in with a grave look. "It's a pretty nasty curse. The Invisible Tomb, it's called. It creates the sphere you're in, roughly the radius of the height of the person entombed plus a few inches. Since the person inside cannot touch anything and no items can enter it, the person inside eventually starves to death. The additional torture comes from the fact that the victim can see the world around them and their loved ones can see but not help them."

I frowned. "Not exactly the best news, Wes. So how do we get rid of it?" 

Wes sighed. "Well there we have a problem. The caster can counteract it, but even then it takes an elaborate ritual counter spell. The only other thing that will dispel it is The Sceptre of Appolyon. The problem is that the Sceptre hasn't been seen in over six hundred years." 

I crossed my arms and growled softly. "We need to find the caster then. Work your contacts, try magic, try the company psychics, whatever you can." They all nodded and left to get to work. 

So began the ordeal of several days. Spike helped keep me entertained. He watched television with me, talked to me, even slept in the office with me. I hated to admit it, but I don't know how I would have made it without him around. 

The others were not having much luck. No one could find out who cast the spell, though Wes was collecting a list of the casters capable of casting it. I was getting hungrier, and I was losing body mass as my body ate itself, trying to sustain me. In addition to trying to find the caster, they were handling my job, telling others I was busy or out of town or whatever. It wasn't looking good for me. 

On the seventh day, suddenly there was a flash, and a bang, and a cloud of oily smoke. Standing in my office was a Thool demon, six feet of green-skinned, slightly slimy demon, humanoid but with tentacles emanating from his back. Only Spike was there with me when he appeared, but the others rushed in fairly quickly. The Thool demon nodded at us all, then looked at me. 

"Angel, I am an emissary of his Infernal Lord Ka'dath. My Lord offers you relief from your curse, with of course a negotiated compensation." 

I quirked an eyebrow. "And how can he do this?" 

"Quite easily, as he is the one who cast it." 

Spike made an instinctive grab towards a nearby sword, and one of the Thool demon's tentacles slapped it away. "If you harm or slay me, the curse will not be lifted." 

~~~~~

I never liked Thool demons. Arms _and_ tentacles? That was just cheating. I hated not being able to attack. I liked direct action and I'd been aching for some violence. These past seven days had been hell for us both. "Awright then, so what's the price?" 

Angel sighed. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" 

The Thool demon shook his head. "My Lord has specifically requested Spike be your negotiator, Angel. He gives his word that nothing shall be done to Spike that he does not agree to, and he shall be returned within twenty-four hours." The air shimmered slightly. 

Angel and I both had skeptical looks on our faces, and it must have showed, cos Wes spoke up. "That shimmer is a formal oath, a binding spell. What is sworn to cannot be breached or death results to the oathbreaker." 

"Spike, you don't have to do this," Angel said. 

I squared my shoulders. "Yes I do." I looked back at the emissary. "Lay on, McDuff." 

Either the demon knew Shakespeare or he just figured I said to take me, because a moment later and I was in another room. It was decorated like the set of some nightmare Arab sheikh's palace out of A Thousand and One Nights. Sitting on a divan in the center of the room was the hugest Thool demon I'd ever seen. Probably over eight feet tall and a wall of muscle, like the Incredible Hulk with tentacles. He wore only some silk harem pants and an embroidered vest. There were several demons of various types and a few humans, both male and female, naked and collared and chained to rings around the base of the divan. 

"Ah, Spike. So glad you could join us." He gave me one of the creepier smiles I'd ever seen, and caressed some of the slaves with his tentacles. 

I shrug. "Not like I had much choice." 

"But you did. I see what my little spies told me is true. After so long quarreling with your Sire you are now back with him. How very sweet." His voice oozed the words. I felt slimy just listening. 

I put my hands on my hips and gave him my best sneer, the sneer Billy Idol stole. "What of it?" 

"Well you see, your Sire has incommoded me on several occasions. He has hampered my business. He has damaged what is mine. And I am not one to take interference lightly. So I cursed him." 

I had to suppress a growl. "Yeah, very impressive curse. So what's it gonna take to get him un-cursed?" 

His smile became creepier. I didn't think it was possible. "I want to damage what is his. I want to interfere with his business, in the most intimate way." He let his gaze travel over me, and I knew I was not going to like what he said next. "The ritual to reverse the curse takes a sacrifice. A willing one. Not to die, but to both suffer and experience arousal." He stared into my eyes. "I want you, Spike. I want to taste the sweet catamite that Angelus trained. You will suffer no permanent damage. That I swear." There was that shimmer in the air, which marginally reassured me. A little, not much. "At the end of the twenty-four hours the curse will be lifted and you will be returned to your Sire. But he will know I've had you, and violated you in ways even he could not imagine." 

Okay, I had to admit he had me a bit worried with his pronouncement. But I'd endured weeks of painful trials to get my soul, surely he couldn't do worse to me in twenty-four hours, especially since he couldn't inflict any permanent damage to me. Without this, Angel would die. So there wasn't really a choice. "Awright. You have your sacrifice." 

He chuckled, and got up off the divan. "You must say that you do this of your own free will." His eyes glittered and his tentacles hovered in anticipation. 

I straightened up, steeling my spine. "I do this of my own free will." 

"Excellent." He grabbed me with his tentacles and started stripping off my clothes. Even if I were tempted to struggle he was damn strong. It didn't take him long to have me starkers. He carried me like that, wrapped in tentacles, and gestured at the wall. 

It disappeared, and inside was a ritual temple apparently combined with a sex dungeon. He laid me down on what seemed to be an altar in the middle, and leathery bonds rose from the stone and bound me spreadeagled. Ka'Dath gestured again at the wall and it reappeared. He approached the altar, and smiled. 

I found out later the slaves outside couldn't hear my screams. 

 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

 

It was ninety minutes til the end of the twenty-four hours. I'd managed to work out a path for me to pace back and forth, because I couldn't just sit still while I was waiting. I was hoping whatever was going on...Oh, let's face it, I was just uncomfortable because he wasn't here. Also because I don't trust Thool demons, and I know I've crossed the path of high muckity-muck Ka'Dath before. 

Wes was sitting in the room, trying to keep me company. He watched me pace with a tiny smile. "You're going to press a path into the carpet doing that. So either you're worried or you're trying to get your exercise." 

"I could do without the sarcasm, Wes. I'm worried, okay? Spike has a talent for finding trouble." My tone was gruff, a cover for my worry and Wes knew it. He went back to reading his book and waiting with me. 

An hour before the time was up, a piece of paper appeared, along with a tiny whoosh and bang. That transport spell must be pretty handy. Wes scurried over and picked it up gingerly. "It says, once this is read your curse will be broken. In one hour your catamite will be returned to you." The scroll turned into smoke. 

I felt my feet touch upon the floor. I reached out, and stepped forward, and touched Wes on the shoulder. "Broken all right." I frowned, as the rest of the words took hold. "Catamite? He called Spike..." I growled. "He better not have touched him." Then I staggered a bit as I tried to walk to the door. "Harmony!" I bellowed. "Blood, lots of it!" 

She came in a few moments later with a couple of large thermoses of warmed blood. I started downing them, and gestured to her for more. It took a lot until I felt sated, and the blood started working its magic on me. While I was drinking, nothing else mattered. I could feel Wes' eyes on me, worried eyes. I remembered, even though he didn't, that he pulled me out of the ocean and fed me when I was starved and driven mad by hunger. Much longer and I would not have been able to come back from madness. I had to wonder if Ka'Dath knew about that. Starving to death, he couldn't have chosen a better torture for me if he tried. 

By the time the hour was nearly up, though, I was back to feeling almost normal. I was waiting, still pacing, somewhat enjoying the sensation of being able to take proper strides and feel the floor underneath me. I had Harmony bring in some thermoses of warmed blood, just in case. My mind shied away from what the just in case might be. By this time Gunn, Fred, and Lorne had joined us to wait for Spike's return. 

At the end of the hour, there was a flash and bang, a small one, and a bundle of clothes appeared. Spike's clothes. Then a _large_ flash and bang, and the naked figure of Spike was on the floor. He was curled into a fetal ball, his eyed screwed tightly shut. His body was a mass of bruises and welts and whipmarks, all things that would heal. I gave out a silent prayer of thanks for that, habit really, I doubt God listens to even a souled vampire. There was a paper in front of him, lettered large enough to see easily. 'He agreed to this of his own free will.' 

"Spike," I said softly. "Gonna get you upstairs and we'll take care of everything." 

I moved over to pick him up and his eyes opened. They were wide and unfocused and he skittered backwards on hands and knees. He shrieked, an unearthly screech that cut through me like shards of glass. "No! Don't touch me!  
Time's up, you promised. I don't agree, don't touch me!" He pulled up his knees against his chest, and he was shuddering and shaking, though his eyes were amber and he'd gone into gameface. 

I felt heartsick as I realized I recognized the look, the broken and fearful look and the cowering. Angelus had reduced Spike to this maybe a handful of times. And I knew exactly how much it took to bring Spike to this as a fledge. I could not imagine what it took to break the Spike of today. But why was he frightened of me? 

It was Fred who broke the tension of the scene, ever so slightly. She picked up a blanket and walked closer to Spike. "Spike, it's Fred. You look cold, Spike, let me wrap a blanket around you." 

Spike looked up at her wide-eyed but he didn't otherwise react as she inched closer, and managed to cover most of his naked body with the blanket. The gameface retreated, and he gripped the blanket around himself, hugging it close, and rocking. His eyes would periodically dart over to me fearfully, then back to fixate on Fred. 

Fred glanced at Harmony. "Bring me the thermoses, would you please Harmony?" Harmony came over, and Spike moved his stare to her until she'd given Fred the containers of blood and moved away. Fred opened one and handed it to Spike. He sniffed it, then grabbed it and began chugging the contents, not bothering to be neat. 

That was wrong. As untidy as Spike was generally he didn't like to mess himself or waste blood. I gestured to Harmony to come close. Whispering her to avoid disturbing Spike, I said, "Harmony, get twenty human volunteers to donate a pint each for Spike to drink." 

Her eyes widened a bit, "But boss, the 'no human blood' policy..." 

I cut her off. "One, doesn't apply to Spike, he's not an employee, never signed a fucking contract, and two, get the damn blood already." I still kept my voice low but the tone got slightly dangerous, and Harmony quivered. 

"Yes boss, right away." Then she moved quickly out of the office. 

I looked back and Spike had already finished the second thermos and was licking the spillage off the blanket and wherever else he could reach it. What the hell did Ka'Dath _do_ to him? 

~ ~ ~ ~   
~~~ Almost 24 hours earlier ~~~

"Open your mouth," he said. Under normal circumstances, even tied to an altar I'd've made a wisecrack, but now I just did it. Fighting him was not going to do any good, I was supposed to be a willing sacrifice. For all I knew, fighting him would bugger the spell. 

One of the tentacles produced a small bottle and poured the contents into my mouth. I expected some nasty potion but it was some kind of liquor instead. I swallowed it, and it gave me a pleasant warmth inside me. It distracted me momentarily as his tentacles began caressing over my skin. They'd changed, they were warmer and the skin softer and less slimy. And they hadn't touched any of the critical spots yet. Against my expectation I started to feel relaxed and slightly aroused. I could feel my brain starting to fuzz a bit. Yeah, probably drugged or enchanted liquor. 

One of the tentacles took on a distinctly phallic shape at the tip and suddenly pushed into my half-open mouth. I let my mouth open to accommodate it, and the tentacle pushed deeper. Then it was as if all the tentacles had decided that was the cue to assault, and they were everywhere. One pushing into my ass, another that developed a tube on the end sucking and squeezing my cock, others touching and rubbing every other erogenous spot on my body. Even with all that I could feel a very thin thread-like one slide into one nostril and then it was like a button was being pushed in my brain. Like something stimulating the pleasure center directly and I had to close my eyes against the intensity. I came almost instantaneously, and the feeling didn't stop. Everything external disappeared and there was just pleasure, my brain, my cock, my ass, my body, greater then lesser, over and over. It was so much and so long it was beginning to be painful. 

"That's the way, my beautiful boy," I heard whispered in my ear. I knew the voice, and the touch of the hands now stroking my chest. I recognized his scent, all musk and rain and heather. My brain screamed to me that it was impossible but I forced my eyes open and there he was. My Sire. It was impossible, some spell. 

"You've brought me back," he whispered. "You're breaking all the curses tonight, my beautiful boy. Going to have you again." It was the slight brogue of Angelus, not the American accent Angel had developed. The tentacles were gone even though the pleasure wasn't. Angelus was stroking me, the hands I fetishized. He was kissing me, bruisingly, possessively. 

"This is a spell or a trick," I gasped out at last when my mouth was free. "Can't be you." 

"It is a spell, my clever boy," Angelus said. "You're still in the temple, he's still touching you. But you summoned me. Your sacrifice called me. He doesn't know I'm here. Going to make it easy on you, boy, for as long as I can. He shouldn't be touching you. You're mine, always have been, my treasure, my favored. I'll stay here and block your view, let you feel me instead of him." 

"Now I know it's a trick. You wouldn't be here to help me just out of the goodness of your heart." 

He snarled. "No goodness involved. Pure possessiveness. Don't like this slimy bastard touching what's mine. Especially to bring you pleasure. Don't want you thinking of anyone but me." 

Things became a haze for a long time after that. But he stayed with me, almost to the end. Through the pleasure, and through most of the pain. Til the last hour. If it was him, if it wasn't a trick inside my head or part of the spell with Ka'Dath toying with me, or just a plain hallucination. But he knew all the endearments, knew our stories, our backgrounds, the secrets only we knew together. By the time he left I couldn't be sure. The torture was so intense, and then the pleasure, back and forth over and over. I was losing myself. But if he was real...then maybe I was going back to the office only to be in Angelus' possession. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Fred stayed near Spike, periodically saying something soothing to him in low tones. Spike looked like he was slowly coming back to himself. His shivering had stopped and the tight, frightened wariness was dispelling, bit by bit. He was still giving me the oddest looks though. He'd gone from avoiding looking to staring, studying me intensely. I just tried to stay calm and cool and not meet his gaze too often. I didn't want him freaking out on me again. 

Harmony came back with the first pint of human blood fairly quickly. Spike perked up just smelling it from across the room, and he drank it down greedily. He sat there, hands wrapped around the mug, and he spoke for the first time since that horrified outburst earlier. 

"I'm better now." His voice was raspy and raw, his throat obviously sore from screaming. "More of this coming?" He looked at me when he asked the question and I nodded. "Good," he said. "Been a hell of a day." He chuckled darkly at his own small jest. 

Fred took a deep breath and asked the question we'd all been wanting to ask since he returned. "Spike, ummm, if you can, I mean don't if it's too much to...What happened?" 

He tilted his hand and looked at Fred, his expression tender. "S'ok Fred. I'd be wondering too. He needed a willing sacrifice to torture and pleasure to break the spell. He wanted me." The words came out flat and matter-of-fact, so much so that they spoke volumes for how bad things had been. "Didn't have much choice, so I 'volunteered'." Then he looked up at me. "He made himself look like you, somehow, for most of it." 

Harmony arrived with more blood and cut off any temptation on my part to ask for more details. But it certainly explained the outburst when I tried to pick him up. I couldn't blame him. And I felt my guts twist even more, knowing what he'd gone through, willingly, to free me. I certainly didn't deserve it. 

Spike downed two pints without stopping, then he was able to slow down to long sips. He was visibly relaxing as the blood hit. The bruises and cuts had healed and he leaned back against the wall behind him. "It worked, I see." He gestured his head in the direction of the bundle of his clothes. "Can I get my kit on? I'm not shy about being naked or anything, just rather be dressed." 

"Of course," said Fred, even as Wes scooped up the clothes to bring to me. 

"May want to turn around." Spike waited a moment to make sure everyone was looking away. 

I admit it, I peeked. I wanted to make sure he was really okay. Well that, and I could never turn down a chance to see Spike naked. He seemed fine, and I turned around and fidgeted. I never liked waiting. 

A few minutes later, Spike called out, "All clear." 

We all turned around. He looked like himself again. There was something about that duster and his doc marten boots that fit over him like armor. "Now let me at the rest of that blood. Then I'll want some whiskey." He gave me a ghost of a smile. "That good Irish stuff you hate me stealing." 

I gave a small chuckle. "The good stuff it is." I move over to the bar and pull a couple of bottles of my private reserve out of the locked cabinet. 

The whole room is held in tension. Everyone seems afraid to move, afraid to say anything. Spike felt it too, apparently, because he downed another cup of blood and looked around. "I'm awright enough. No need to hover."

The tension broke. "Everyone, back to work, you can all smother Spike with hugs and kisses later." That got smiles, and they all moved towards the door. 

"Wes, can you hang on a minute?" Spike asked. 

Wes turned and looked at Spike, and nodded. "Certainly." 

The room emptied and Spike settled in his normal chair, draping a leg over the arm of the chair. Wes sat in another chair, and I sat down rather uncomfortably in my office chair behind my desk. I wanted to take Spike in my arms and feel every inch of him and make sure he was all right. It was painful, not being able to touch him yet. 

"Wes, I need to ask, do Thool demons shapeshift? I'm not all that familiar with them." Spike faced Wes, and he continued to sip on his blood. 

Wes fidgeted a bit in his chair. "Not that I've ever heard. But they are particularly skilled with magick, especially their ruling clans. It's entirely possible for him to have done a glamour." 

Spike nodded. "Yeah, and he gave me some kind of drugged liquor first. I...I want you to check me out. You know, magickally and all. I need to make sure..." He paused, and cleared his throat. "I need to make sure there's nothing left behind on me. I'm going to Fred after for her to use her machines and do the same for the technological side. Just in case." 

Wes took a deep breath, sighed, and nodded his head. "I'll go set up for that, come on over when you're ready. I'll call Fred and let her know." 

"Thanks Wes." Spike finished the last of the blood, and Wes got up and left the office. 

At last we were alone. Spike got up, grabbed the two bottles of whiskey, and placed one in front of me. "You're gonna need it, probably. I know I do." He took his place in the chair again, and unscrewed the top from the whiskey. He tipped it up, downing about a third of the bottle before he lowered it again. 

I opened mine and poured a glass, sipping at it, watching him, waiting to see what came next. 

He sighed and put the top back on the bottle. "I have to go find Wes in a minute, but there's some things you should know. Can't tell them, don't want you to tell them either." He looked down at his hands, and kept his gaze there as he started talking again. "The last hour...it wasn't for the spell. At least that's what he said. He used smelling salts to make sure I was alert. He said, 'I want you conscious for this. I want you to tell him about this, and let him know you and he will never be intimate again without thinking of this'." 

I had to fight for control not to crush the glass in my hand. I downed what was in it and set the glass aside so I'd be safe from the temptation to do just that as Spike continued. 

"He shoved some kind of hard tube in my mouth. I assume to keep it open and to keep me from using teeth. Then two of his tentacles..." Spike paused, and he closed his eyes, and the strain on him was visible as he made himself continue. "Started thinning out and getting longer and longer. One started down my mouth, and the other up my ass, and...and they kept going, and going, and going." He gritted his teeth. "Til they met in the goddamned middle. Not gonna try to describe how it felt. I don't wanna think about it much longer. I was violated. He said he was going to violate me like no one else ever could, and he did." 

He paused. I opened my mouth to try to say something and he raised his hand to stop me, shaking his head. 

"I don't know if he's right. But I do know..." He stopped and swallowed hard. "Not gonna be able to face anything like sex for a while. Maybe a long while. If you can understand that, I'll be in our bed tonight. You let me know by wearing some underwear to bed. Cos I'll be wearing underwear at the very least. If you don't think you can deal with it... I'll be on the couch instead." 

I wanted to speak but he still held up the hand. 

"Angel, please, no. If you say something right now I'll fall apart and I _need_ to know if he left anything in me or on me. I have to go get tested and I have to keep my Big Bad face on for a little while longer. You think, and you decide. I'll come up when the tests are done." He got up, keeping the bottle gripped in his hand, and briskly walked out the door. 

Spike was right. I did need the whiskey. To hell with the glass, I started drinking from the bottle. He was wrong about one thing, I didn't need to think about whether or not I'd wear underwear to bed tonight. I'd be near him however he let me, on whatever terms. I just had to think about what the hell I was going to do about Ka'Dath and how I was going to help Spike....


	5. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angel  
> SUMMARY: Angel tries to help Spike heal. Done for tamingthemuse #351-parched. SPECIAL NOTE: My take on vampire lore about mirrors is that there are entirely too many perfectly coiffed and made-up vampires for them not to be able to see themselves in mirrors. They don't cast reflections for others, they do for themselves, cos I never saw a hairdresser at Angel's house to style that hair.   
> CONTENT: m/m sex, dubcon, angst, bloodplay, major character trauma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Spike came back to bed, a little the worse for wear. I was in bed already, covers down enough that he could see my boxers. Hell, I was wearing bikini briefs under the boxers to make sure I didn't, y'know, poke him with anything in my sleep. Spike looked over, nodded, and went into the bathroom. He came back out, and boxer briefs were visible under his boxers. 

He took a deep breath and got into the bed. He turned over and looked at me. There was a long, long silence. 

"It was bad, Angel. I thought...I thought the promise of no personal damage meant he couldn't do anything I couldn't take. Other than that last...thing, it felt to me like it was Angelus doing it." 

My face, I'm sure, showed the surprise and angry protectiveness I felt. "Angelus?" 

Spike nodded. "It felt so real. Whatever he used to get it, Angelus knew...he knew everything. He called me all the endearments and all the filthy names he used to call me. And..." Spike stops again. "He said he was coming back." 

"Oh, damn, Spike, no wonder you skittered away. Probably thought it was _Him_." 

"Yeah, I did for a moment. Well, more than a moment. I watched you though. Couldn't get close enough to smell if your soul was in, but you didn't do those little gestures that are all him. And I can scent you now, you're all soul-having and all." 

"Good thing, that vampire sense of smell. So, did Wes and Fred give you the all-clear?" 

Spike paused, and shook his head. "There some spiral of something metallic around part of my spine."

I sat up in bed, instantly worried...well okay, panicked is a better description. "Spike! Are they getting rid of it?" 

"They're figuring out how to. They did their little detecting stuff and said it doesn't seem to have any harmful spells in it. Some kind of trigger linked to a powerful spell to negate magick, though exactly what magick they're not sure. Where it is they have to be really careful how they get it out." 

I relaxed marginally and settled down. "Otherwise, though, all clear?" My voice conveyed my worry perhaps a little too well. Dammit, I should be trying to make him feel comfortable. 

"Yeah, for the time being." Spike moved in closer to me. "Can we not talk about this now? Can you just..." His voice trailed off. "I'm so tired, you can't imagine how tired. I want to sleep, and I don't want to sleep alone." 

Occasionally I could pick up on cues, even as generally oblivious as I am. I moved across the bed and pulled him close to me, wrapping my arms around him. He curled into me like he did as a fledge with Angelus. I blinked back the moisture in my eyes and swallowed the urge to cry. It was his privilege to do it, and he hadn't done it yet. I held him tight and close and he buried himself against me. It was all I could do for him and it was so pitifully little. 

I stroked the nape of his neck and purred to him. I didn't purr often but I did it to soothe him. He purred back, a soft and broken sound compared to the usual purr. We lay like that together for a long time. It took forever, it seemed, until he was finally, truly asleep and only then did I allow myself to follow. 

The next few days followed along in a terrifying haze. During the day Spike was pretending to be his old Big Bad self. God I had never realized how strong he was. If it had been me that it happened to, I don't think I would have coped. I think Wes would have me in a padded cell. And at night we did whatever he wanted. Watched TV, ate terrible junk food, played those wretched video games he loved so much. He kept pressed against me when the others weren't around. I made sure he kept getting fed fresh human blood. And when he would allow it I fed him from me. He drank like a man parched from days in the desert. Sire's blood could heal a lot of things. If it would help him, even a little, I'd feed him whatever he needed. In bed at night he still curled against me like a fledge. I purred him to sleep and held him close and prayed to be able to destroy the monster that had done this to him. 

Then came the morning that we came downstairs and there was a potted plant with two _enormous_ white flowers. Spike grabbed the card. "It's from Fred. She says the plant may have a power than can help, but you and I both need to lean down and sniff a flower at the same time." Spike looked up. "I'm game. Little Fred usually knows what she's about." 

"Sure. Let's do it." Like I said, I'd do anything to help Spike with this. We both leaned down. "On the count of three," I said. "One, two, three." We both inhaled and were both hit square in the face with a blast of fine white pollen. 

Spike stood up, I stood up, and we both had big patches of white centered on our noses. Spike started to dissolve in laughter and I joined him. Not some polite laughter either but huge, embarrassingly loud, almost fall down laughter. It was largely the horrendous tension of the last few days. I went over to help him up. I pulled him hard enough that he fell against me. 

Suddenly we weren't laughing anymore. We were gazing at each other hungrily. It was like a red haze of need. He wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my hips and I walked us into the elevator. I could barely manage to push the button, because all I could think about was touching him. 

The elevator opened and I carried him towards the bedroom. We got to the bed, just barely, and the frenzied rush to be naked was on. I think only our shoes and Spike's duster survived unscathed. I managed grabbing the lube. There was not going to be any sweet foreplay, neither of us needed it or even wanted it at the moment. As soon as I slicked up and squirted some into Spike I was grabbing his knees and pushing hard into him. Spike gripped my shoulder and pulled up, raining kisses on my chest. I was burying myself every thrust, the thrusts getting harder and faster. Spike's fangs found my neck and I lowered down to be on top of him instead of braced above, so I could likewise taste him. Everything became a complete and perfect fog then. Brains were a poor way to deal with such things. There was sharing and licking and the sweet cursing as the moment crashed over both of us. 

It was afterwards, in the afterglow, that I felt it. This pain in my chest where there should be no pain. I get up and stagger to the bathroom, by the toilet. My gut felt like it was tightening to expel a mighty load. 

It wasn't my gut, not at all. There was a great ripping away inside me, and I could see a bright green glow all around me, then I didn't feel anything. 

_No, but I did. "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste," I sang, and grinned at myself in the mirror. This was going to be fun..._


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> SUMMARY: Angelus and Spike have a discussion. Done for tamingthemuse #352-shameless.  
> CONTENT: bloodplay, non-con, mention of torture.   
> SPECIAL NOTE: My take on vampire lore about mirrors is that there are entirely too many perfectly coiffed and made-up vampires for them not to be able to see themselves in mirrors. They don't cast reflections for others, they do for themselves, cos I never saw a hairdresser at Angel's house to style that hair. 
> 
> CHANGES TO CANON- My regular readers know this, but I choose to believe canon as stated in the first place with Angelus as Spike's sire and view the later stuff from Fool for Love as a retcon I ignore. Not just in this story but in almost all my stories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

"Mmmm, nice to look in the mirror and only see me again," I said to the handsome face in the mirror. It had been so long. It felt...good. Then I sighed. I wouldn't have long to figure out what to do. First things first- had to take care of my sweet boy Spike. 

He'd smell the lack of that stupid soul pretty quickly. I considered. I could chain him up but that took time, he might escape before I could get him secured. I needed to incapacitate him. Hmmmm...ah, perfect. 

I walked out into the bedroom. He was still asleep. No time like the present, I climbed over him and sunk my teeth into his neck. I wrapped my arms tight around him and pinned his legs with mine. 

He awoke. "Angel, what the fuck are you...?" His voice trailed off. "Angelus." His tone was almost resigned, as if he'd expected it. He tried to struggle then but it was too late. He was weakening already. 

I pulled blood hard and fast from him. Dear god but it tasted like heaven. He was strong. All that human blood he'd drunk, and the slayers, and a hundred years or more on his own. I could taste the soul too but I could bear it with him. He didn't cage his demon, he didn't deny himself like a monk. I drained him til he stopped struggling. I drained him low. And then I stopped and and licked the wound clean. 

He laid very still and pale against the sheets. Now it was time to get some chains. I whistled softly as I rummaged through the chest to get the demon-rated ones. Once I'd chained him up I slung him over my shoulder. There was a handy little hidden room that Angel never wanted to use. A special perk for the CEO. I pressed the hidden button and the door slid open. 

Inside was a lovely little dungeon. All sorts of implements of pleasure and pain. And a nice plush bed with all sorts of rings and attachments and pulleys and hooks and other toys. I tossed him onto the bed and chained him there. 

I turned and closed the door. Now we were all soundproof. Time to wake my boy up. I got myself a thin scalpel from the torture cabinet and got onto the bed. I straddled him and pulled his mouth open. I carefully slit my wrist, and trickled my blood into his mouth. I held my wrist high enough that he couldn't lock on. The blood dripped down, and he began swallowing automatically. It took a few minutes but his eyes finally fluttered and he woke up. I pulled my wrist back, closing the wound. 

Spike rattled the chains, pulling at the bonds, though it was obvious he was still weak. "Thought you were going to kill me. Settled on torture instead? More your style." 

I had to chuckle. He was shameless as ever, my boy. "Not unless you insist." I stroked my hand down his chest and over his belly, stopping just short of his groin. "Much better uses for you than that." 

He started hardening and the tightness of his lips and the narrowing of his eyes showed he didn't like that I could still affect him. "Been a long while. Last time you were out you were busy with Dru. You were also trying to destroy the world." 

"Last time I was out I wasn't myself. Being locked up in that sanctimonious goof for a hundred years is enough to drive a saint mad, and I'm no saint." I curled my fingers around his cock. I couldn't resist. He groaned and tried to wriggle but he wasn't able to move much. "This time I have my priorities straight. Got you and I intend to keep you, my beautiful boy." 

I saw him close his eyes and shiver at those words. Nice to know I could still affect him that way as well. "Now I intend to find the demon slime that touched you and make him very, very dead. That's my first priority. But if you were to tell Angel's pet humans I was back, well, I'd have to kill them and I know you'd miss at least a few of them." 

He shivered at that. "You'll kill them anyway." 

I shook my head. "No, see, I have the one thing I've never had before. Except for those pet humans I have an entire organization of minions. I can do so much more with this." I smiled and leaned down closer. "And those pet humans are not only useful employees, they're hostages against your good behavior." I kissed his chest, moved over to suck one of his nipples up between my teeth, nipping lightly. "I want you back, boy, and we can do this anyway you like. You keep me happy, you be my boy again, you keep my secret, and there is no reason for anyone to suffer. At least anyone you care about." 

I backed away towards the door. "Think about it my boy. I'll be back later to feed you and we can talk then. Among other things." I closed the door and headed to get dressed. I had a whole new corporation to play with. Such a shiny new toy.


	7. Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> SUMMARY: Angelus gets used to the office. Done for tamingthemuse #353-in flagrante delicto.   
> CONTENT: Dirty imagination; objectification of women

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

I went to dress, sighing at the distinct lack of anything wickedly stylish. I picked through the closet til I found a nice red velvet shirt, and paired it with the more stylishly cut of his business trousers. He had some leather pants but I honestly didn't want to go down screaming, 'look, I'm Angelus'. I also chose a jacket to match the pants but I had no intention of wearing it. Draping it on the back of the office chair should be sufficient to fool them. He was a depressingly predictable bugger. 

I went through his wretched routine, straightening things on his desk, walking around the office to see that everything was in its place. I settled down and pushed the intercom. "Harmony!" I barked, doing my best wanker imitation. "Where's my blood?" 

"Coming boss," she said. This happened every morning. A few minutes later she came in with the blood, setting it on his desk; well, my desk now I supposed. "Having to use wolf blood, boss, they're out of otter at the suppliers." 

I nodded and grimaced, even as I was silently checking her out. She was annoying but she was a sweet little piece. A gag and some manacles and she'd be just fine for a recreational fuck. "Make sure to line up volunteers for Spike's blood supply. Make it clear that donating will affect quarterly bonuses in a substantial way." 

Harmony nodded. "Yes boss. Umm, you've got a pretty light day. There's a delegation from the Satayriani demons today about their yearly fertility festival coming at ten, and some representatives of the local Fae about demon intrusion into their territory at two. Those are the only ones too tricky and too important for Gunn or Wes or Lorne to handle. Oh, and Eve is waiting outside to see you." 

I groaned. "All right, send her in." 

Eve walked in the door as Harmony exited. She looked me over. "You're looking well today. Extra spring in your step." She smiled a cryptic smile. 

Ah, Eve. Another cute little piece of ass, one we'd actually had, thanks to Lorne's little breakdown at the Halloween party. I remembered very well us being caught _in flagrante delicto_. I could almost smell the smug hate and the tiny scent of arousal. She thought about it, yes, every time she was near me. Ah well, time to play the depressing bugger. I scowled. "What do you want, Eve?" 

"Tsk, tsk, and I was trying to be friendly. I was just trying to say you seem like a new man. In fact the Senior Partners tell me that you _are_ a new man. An outflow of mystic energy that big inside the building, especially in the penthouse, wasn't going to go unnoticed." She trailed her fingers over the edge of my desk. 

I dropped my attempt to look like him and grinned. "Well then, _Eve_ ," I said, letting the tone of my voice match my eyes as I remembered exactly what she looked like naked. "What do the Senior Partners say about all this?" 

"To begin with, they'd like to know if you have Spike in your possession, and if you plan to keep him?" 

I chuckled. "Yes, I have him, and yes, whatever it takes I'm going to keep him. He's mine, and I'm not letting him slip away again." 

"Good. All the Senior Partners really need is to be assured of possession of a souled vampire when the Apocalypse comes. As long as you have Spike, the Senior Partners are perfectly content to let you continue as CEO of the Los Angeles branch. The other thing they'd like to know is your intentions towards the humans and the anagogic demon Angel brought with him." 

"That depends on Spike. He behaves, they stay healthy." I gave my very wickedest grin. 

"Excellent. The Senior Partners prefer to keep talented employees if possible." 

I leaned back and steepled my fingers, looking over her at them. "Anything else?" 

"That's it. I'll be around if you need me."

I decided to taunt her a bit. "I could take you right here, on this desk. I'm much better than he is, not all riddled with guilt."

She grimaced. "Don't flatter yourself. I don't have any intention of sleeping with you again, soul or no soul."

"We'll see." 

My laugh echoed a bit into the atrium as she stormed out the door. 

Handling the business meetings was a snap. I had the advantage of not despising the clients as Angel normally did. The tricky meeting was the one I'd called myself. Wes. I needed his help and he'd be the one most likely to figure out it was me. Well, aside from Lorne, who was his own special problem. At any rate, I'd have to deal with the humans if I was going to bother with the charade at all. Angel's humans were really the only ones who'd have a problem with me being me. The rest of Wolfram and Hart would likely be thrilled. 

I was bothering so I could have my boy back without having to, oh, say, tie him up and spend several months tormenting and retraining. And I _wanted_ him. I'd spent a lot of the last six years regretting my insanity, and part of it my treatment of him. I pushed him away, forced him to betray me. If I'd not taunted him, taken Dru and left him wanting and alone, he would have stayed mine. He had just wanted attention, as he always did. As I'd trained him to do. 

Harmony buzzed me. "Boss, Wes is here." 

"Send him in, Harmony."

"Will do, Boss." 

A moment later Wes came in and sat down. "How's Spike?" 

"Resting but he's getting better." I sighed. "Wes, I think it would help if we could find Ka'Dath and say, kick the crap out of him."

Wes raised an eyebrow. "Well Ka'Dath may take a bit more of a plan than that, but I do share the sentiment." 

"So can you find him?"

"Certainly. I'll put the staff to work on it now." Wesley tapped a few keys on the tablet in front of him. 

"Good." I gave Wes a discreet once over. Gagging for my cock, without a doubt. And he was exactly my, and therefore Angel's type. Blondish-brown hair, blue-eyed, English, with glasses. I would have to have him later. He shouldn't prove too difficult to seduce. 

"Anything else?" Wes asked. 

If I weren't on my first day out I'd've chanced something risque with him. As it was, I just shook my head. "Nothing else more important than finding that bastard right now. "

"I understand." Wes got up and headed out of the office. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Not much of a choice he was giving me. Hell, not long ago I'd've jumped at the chance to be his again. I couldn't let him hurt Fred and the others. 

Sad to say, the idea of being a slave to Angelus again didn't bother me all that much. I'd sold myself for far less. It was the open-endedness of this. It was how long I'd have to do this. 

Well, it mattered not at all, really. I had no choice. When he came back in and asked I'd give in and do it eagerly. Now I just had to wait. Wait to sell myself to my old Sire.


	8. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> SUMMARY: Spike spends a day reliving some memories. Done for tamingthemuse #366-sarcasm.  
> CONTENT: {NOTE: References in flashbacks are expressions of attitudes of the times in the memory, not the attitudes of the character in current day settings.} Bondage, m/m sex, bloodplay, violence, non-con, vague implications of torture and abuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

The day passed very slowly. I had forgotten, after all this while, how long a day could be when I was bound and immobile. I had to admit it was relatively comfortable. The bed was top-notch, really, and the restraints were lined. No marks on my pretty skin when and if Angelus took the manacles off. I had spent some of my time amusing myself by trying to test both the strength of the chains and the bed. All I had gotten for my exertions was more tired. 

Damn Angelus only gave me a few sips anyway, just enough to wake me up. Would he give me more if I was a good boy? Well, that game I knew how to play. I could be a very good boy, at least by Angelus' definition of 'good'. He'd spent a long time training me exactly how to be good for him. 

At least that gave me something to do. I spent the last few hours of the day dredging up old memories. Really old memories. Now after a lifetime or so all vampires who want to stay sane do that memory palace thing. Unlike humans our memories are damn slow to fade without mystical help or madness, so we organize them and shove the vivid full-sense recall away until we need it. Mine was a rambling Victorian mansion. Good memories were wrapped in gossamer silk and kept carefully tucked away in the children's playroom to protect them. Wild erotic ones were tucked in fur or leather or lace or velvet and hidden about the boudoir. And the dark ones...they were in the basement, in the locked cell. The other workaday ones had their own systems, but it's those three rooms I needed to visit today. 

The children's playroom first. It would give me strength for the others. I picked up a piece of familiar white silk with a spot of red and unwrapped it. My first morning in the bed after he took me. _I could feel it as if I were there, cool bed linens against my skin and the smell of him, the first time I noticed really how he smelled with my vampire senses. Musk and rain and heather. He'd taken such pains to make sure everything was clean, that everything was quiet and dim, that it was only us and a small pool of light created by the candle, which was now more than enough brightness to see him as day. I could feel the pull inside, the pull of blood, but it was something greater. He was asleep still. I traced his body in my mind, trying to commit every curve to memory. I was besotted, I was enraptured. And I was a virgin no longer. He'd taken me like a woman, made me enjoy it, taken his time to seduce me and prepare me and make me gasp and scream in ecstasy. I did not know if vampires were supposed to love, I was too new, but I knew I loved him with my stupid poet's heart and I wanted to worship him._

_He awoke, and those dark eyes found me. They fixed me there. He moved, a sleepy lion stretching and awakening, his muscles rippling in display. "So, my beautiful boy, what are you thinking now behind those lovely blue eyes of yours?"_

_I shivered. I couldn't lie, really I was no good at it anyway and he'd be able to tell. "That, well, that I love you." I blushed scarlet and dropped my eyes to the bed and wondered how as a vampire I could still be so foolish._

_His reaction was so sudden and violent it shocked me. He pushed me to the bed in a swift motion, pinning me to the bed. He held both my wrists in one strong hand above my head and leaned in close, nuzzling my cheek. "My beautiful boy, those words please me more than you know. But you must not utter them again except when we are utterly alone and miles away from anyone else. Do you understand?" I nodded, not daring to speak. "Good. Because I love you too, my boy. Though I may never ever say it again. I made you for me. My favored, my one to keep always. Remember this always. I have never said this to any as I've said it to you and never will to another. There is love and there is love."_

_I was a poet, with a poet's heart. I knew what he meant. This was something just for us. A secret too precious to be breathed aloud. "I understand."_

_He relaxed then, seeing truth in my eyes and in my body. "When I call you 'my beautiful boy', you will know what it really means?" I nodded, feeling the prick of tears and fighting them._

I came back to myself and wrapped up the silk, not able to bear that memory any further. That night and that day were so many things. They were a lie, meant to buy my heart, and they were the truth. The truth Angelus couldn't admit to himself even as he said the words. The lie that was true. God it was the Victorian age and it overflowed with tragic and excessive romanticism and I was still a prisoner of it, still love's bitch. I still loved him, in some sickly twisted way among all the other shit, and that meant the same was probably true for him and dammit didn't that make this all so much harder and more complicated. 

I steadied myself and stayed there awhile, opening a few more. There was one of our times at the opera, and the trip to Leningrad, and the trip to the mary club where we had danced together. Time to move on. I had enough good, I thought, to handle the basement. The boudoir would wait for the last. 

I let my feet take the familiar path to the basement. The last few years had given me many reasons to visit here that had nothing to do with Angelus. Damn Glory, damn The First, damn Caleb, damn Pavayne, and damn Buffy while I was at it. I unlocked the door of the cage and walked in, letting my hands caress the chains that hung from the ceiling, finding the ones I wanted. I curled long fingers around an old and well-worn chain and hung there, letting the memory come. 

_I had lost track of the number of days. We were alone in Germany, Darla and Dru had gone off on an extended trip to see the Master, and there was no one to distract him or stop him. I had annoyed him by taking a harmless tumble with a lovely young tavern singer, and honestly I'd done it to provoke him. What I hadn't counted on was a full-on possessive attack. He'd bound my arms painfully behind me, manacles on the wrists, straps on the elbows and biceps. He'd bound my legs-- ankles, above and below knees, and then ankles to thighs to keep me kneeling. He'd forced a huge scorpion ring gag into my mouth and I'd spent hours and hours now every day pleasuring him orally. If I was good he'd feed me blood by pouring it down my throat. When he was otherwise occupied or sleeping he locked me in a chest padded round with furs, still bound. With no circulation issues or waste issues he could of course keep me like this as long as he liked, and that was what terrified me. He seldom spoke to me except to tell me what a dirty whore I was and that I was his and before he finished I would have nothing left in me but the desire to be his. If this continued much longer, I wasn't entirely sure I could continue to defy his prediction._

I let go the chain and dropped. If Darla hadn't returned in time and demanded he untie me so I could handle Dru while he saw to her needs, I don't know what I would have become. I looked down and saw I was hard, and shook my head. He trained me well. I shivered hard and then forced myself to get up and grab another chain. I was pale and shaking but painfully hard by the time I walked slowly out of the cage and closed the door behind me. 

The memories in that cage were what frightened me about submitting to him again. Because I knew, because he'd proven to me again and again, if he wanted me to enjoy it and most of the time even if he didn't, I would enjoy it. Because it was him. It wasn't just physical. He'd made me to be his and back then I was. I had my rebellious phase when I reached twenty, as most vamps do, but it didn't change the essential facts. I was a century older than the fledge he'd trained but I didn't know how much it would help. He had all the leverage on his side and I had almost none on mine. 

I sighed deeply and left the basement and the cage behind. I entered the boudoir. It still held a bit of power over my old Victorian sensibilities as somewhat naughty to be entering this woman's domain. Delicate scents of powder and perfumes and exotic oils mixed delightfully in the air. Everything was soft here, all curves, all a subtle invitation to wickedness. I opened one of the closets and stepped inside, letting my hands find the heavy sable fur I wanted. I lifted it out and carried it out, settling onto one of the thickly padded chaise lounges and draping the fur over me like a blanket. I stroked my hands over the fur, and I could feel the cold and the hear the clopping of the horses. 

_We were on a carriage going through the German countryside. It had been a very fierce winter and we were comfortable ensconced by ourselves, sitting on layers of thick rugs with furs piled heavily over us. We'd both put the comfort and privacy to good use as we bounced along, but now it had gotten even colder and we'd at least partially dressed now. He'd pulled me close the way he often did when we slept together. It was a possessive and protective pose, with me pulled against his chest. My only choice was back to him or front to him... if he was feeling indulgent. Before he fell asleep I'd have both arms securely around me and one leg wrapped over me. I'd tried on occasion to pull out of the hold and had no luck, he only tightened it, growled, and muttered at me to go back to sleep._

_We were supposed to meet Darla and Dru in Munich. Darla was mad about the new art scene there, so many artists from so many places there. She also mentioned in her letter that many refugees were fleeing some calamities in Russia so the feeding was easy and plentiful. At this rate, however, we'd be lucky to make it to the next inn before dawn._

_Then there was a horrid jolt and the world turned and rolled and rolled again before it finally stopped. There were the screams of injured horses and no sound at all of the carriage men. Angelus scowled and growled and cursed. "Damn all incompetents. Finish dressing, boy, and get the warmest furs. I'm glad we sent the baggage ahead. Darla and Drusilla would give us more trouble than it's worth to show up without proper presents for them."_

_I scrambled to pull on my clothes and get out the thicker of the furs that had been piled on us. But I stopped to slide into my own present from Angelus, a thick coat of Russian sable, dark as sin and soft as a caress. I didn't want to lose it. I trudged around to the front of the carriage where Angelus stood. The horses had stopped their screaming. Angelus had taken their blood and put them down more painlessly than a human could have managed. The two carriage men, it seemed, had been thrown from their seats. One's neck had broken, and the other was impaled on a tree. Dead. I took them in fairly impassively, other than to frown a bit. It was still a long way to Munich._

_"Don't frown, my beautiful boy. Come here." Angelus looked at me with his glittering dark eyes and I came closer. He grabbed me and pulled me against him, whirled so that I faced away from him. He lowered his mouth to my ear and whispered softly. "One problem at a time. Dawn is a few hours away and we need shelter. A storm is coming or we could use the remains of the carriage. Now I want you to concentrate very hard, use all your senses. Tell me if you can get any hint of where we should go."_

_Training me, of course. He'd already gotten an idea and wanted to see if I could find the same cues. So I concentrated, one sense at a time, stretching, working them like muscles. There was the faintest scent of smoke in the fairly still air when a breeze would stir. I looked in the direction of the breeze and when it died, I could see a curl of smoke that could only be a chimney. I pointed at it. "Chimney smoke that way. Means a house and people, so lodging and food all in one tasty package."_

_"Very good, my sweet William. Yes. We'll have to run full out for it but I think we can make it."_

_We each took a few furs in case we had to cover to dodge the rising sun and find makeshift shelter instead, but otherwise we simply took off in what we wore. With no humans to see, and no need to hold much in reserve, we ran with all the power and speed we could. It was truly wild. In our furs, moving as a blur almost across the land, we were primal gods. I could feel the headiness of it, the burn of the blood in me. The warmth in me was like unto the sun and I felt alive in a way I never knew. But there was the little voice in my head. We both knew there was a point we would have to stop the burn before it consumed us. When we would need to kill and feed almost as soon as we stopped. It was a race, the false suns inside us against the real sun slowly creeping around to find us._

_And suddenly we broke out of the trees and there it was, the little house. It was a woodman's house, quite obviously, with only a kitchen garden and a few chickens and some cows for feeding the household. We didn't bother with subtlety. We went for the cows first, knowing their frightened moos would bring out the woodsman. It did, and down he went, and his wife, and the cows, and the chickens, and their tasty daughter almost ripe for plucking. We shoved the bodies into the barn and locked it up, getting into the house safely just as the first tentative fingers of light started searching through the trees._

_It had been a lovely massacre. No thinking, no drawn out elaborate concoctions. Just the rush and the crunch and the kill and the feed and now god I was so very aroused. Angelus looked at me knowingly, no smirk. "Come on, my little hunter."_

_There weren't any words after that. Words weren't needed. Grunts and moans, growls and purrs and mewls and the myriad of little sounds and cues vampires had just for themselves. Angelus had put the sable back on me, on my naked body, after my clothes were pulled away. The fur had rubbed between us, stroked our skin as we moved. Tonight we had been hunters, only hunters, killing to survive, risking everything to make it to food and shelter and god the blood tasted so sweet and the snug walls around us better than a palace and right now all I wanted was for this moment to go on forever. Just pleasure. Just now. No thinking, no past, no future, just now._

I pulled my hands up off the sable with the greatest reluctance. But that, that was the moment I needed. The thing Angelus had awakened, my hedonism, and my ability to make a moment just about that moment and to hell with the pain I'd have to swallow later. 

My eyes fluttered open for real back in the CEO dungeon, and perfect timing. Angelus walked in the door, looking at me with those dark eyes I knew so well. "So, boy, what's it to be?" He couldn't help but smirk at my obvious arousal. 

Without a trace of sarcasm, I said, "It's a deal. Now you want to shag me first or discuss terms?" 

"Probably both at once," he said with a curl of his lip. 

That was the Sire I knew. It was going to be a long night.


	9. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: Bondage, bloodplay.  
> SUMMARY: Angelus comes up to get his answer from Spike. Nine in the Victory Verse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Now wasn't that the prettiest sight, all spread out and waiting for me? My boy all spread and at attention. "So, boy, what's it to be?" I had to smirk. Some things never changed. I could smell his arousal like the sweetest perfume in the air. Like jasmine. I did expect some snark from him, and I was prepared to handle a certain amount of his verbal disrespect so long as his body behaved. But then he'd always gotten away with more than anyone else. He was my favored. I'd forgiven him betrayal and torturing me, where Angel and I together had set those two she-wolves, my Sire and my mad childe, on fire without a second thought, simply for causing trouble in my town. 

So I was pleasantly surprised when he said, "It's a deal. Now you want to shag me first or discuss terms?" He even managed to sound sincere. 

"Probably both at once." I had intended, really, to hammer out a contract in specifics before I shagged him but as always he tempted me beyond reason. First things first. He needed to be strong again. I needed him at his best if he was going to give me the pleasure I wanted. I moved over to the bedside, and lifted the cooler I was carrying onto the bed. "But first, my boy, you need to get fed." I pulled out the thermoses. Six of them, full of human blood. 

His face shifted into demon visage almost without thinking. He could smell the blood and his hunger was strong. I stopped to strip off my shirt, setting it aside, and toeing off my shoes. I straddled him lightly, keeping my weight off him. I didn't want to hurt him... not yet. I wanted him mine again, and he was helpless to resist attention and praise. I opened the first of the thermoses, and downed it. I could hear the whine from him and I looked down, then leaned down to kiss him with bloodied lips. "No, my boy. Going to give you back better than I took. You get my blood." 

His eyes widened a bit but he carefully held his countenance. It would help him, heal him, but it also bound him closer to me and he knew it. I downed another thermos then leaned down over him. I sliced a thin line on my right pectoral and pressed it to his mouth. And like I knew he would, as he had to, he sank teeth into my flesh and began to pull at my blood. 

I groaned and gripped a hand tight in his hair. "God, boy, missed this." He was feeding me the same pleasure he would a human he bit, and already I was rubbing my fabric-covered groin against his naked one. His bite had gotten much more potent in this hundred years gone. Was it the Slayer's blood that gave him the boost? At his age he shouldn't be this strong. 

In my reverie I'd failed to notice how strongly he was pulling. I grabbed another thermos, and another, and downed them. Spike (how I hated that name) had a lot to replace. And he seemed intent on driving me mad with lust as he did so. Hedonistic little Seducer like Darla. I'd had toughen him, teach him to fight, but deep down he was a Seducer. I'd been around Darla long enough to learn the ways of it, at least what didn't take the essence, and I could manage well enough, but he could walk into any bar and walk out in five minutes with a willing and eager participant for whatever he desired. 

There was a loud claxon sound and then a computerized voice. "Entry into the penthouse, employees, no weapons, apparently peaceful." A little security screen popped on and I could see Wes and Fred wandering in the atrium of the penthouse. 

"Angel?" Fred called out, tentatively. "I, ummm, know you and Spike might be busy but this is important, we found out some really urgent things about that coil on his spine." 

I growled, knowing they couldn't hear me. "Stop feeding, boy." His eyes looked for a moment like he was tempted to disobey but he pulled fangs out and licked the wounds closed. I got up and pushed a button on the intercom. "I'll be out in a minute," I said, clicking it off before my little brat thought to say anything. I pulled on my shirt, not bothering with the shoes. 

Moving closer to Spike, I grabbed his hair again. "Sweet boy, we haven't come to terms yet, but I'll be back once I've found out what they want." I didn't promise him anything because if they'd discovered about the curse dispelling I might have to take hasty action. 

I exited the little secret room and made my way over to Wes and Fred. There wasn't any way to hide, really, that we'd been interrupted, as even draping my shirt couldn't conceal the rather tight fit of my trousers over the bulge Spike had inspired. Wes noticed immediately but covered his reaction well. Fred, on the other hand, blushed very prettily even as she began to speak. 

"Oh, ummm, sorry, but..." She stammered a bit. She really was adorable, I knew why William favored her so. 

Wesley drew away my attention, gallantly stepping in while Fred tried not to notice anything below my neck. "We've had both the lab and the magical staff working on the coil, trying to figure out how to remove it. We've been taking readings ever day, of course, and, well, see, that's the thing with these combinations of technology and magic and direct demon powers. The trigger and the dispel were concealing an entire line of really powerful and devastating enchantments. The dispel was essentially meant to blow away the magical insulation, so to speak, around the tiny magic focuses that are rendered almost invisible to technological detection by the exotic alloy of the coil. Only..." Wes looked at me directly. "Only the magical staff detected a huge outflow of energy that wasn't generated by any projects we had going. Is Spike all right? Has there been any radical alteration in his behavior since this morning?" 

Now _I_ had to control my expression. They were worried about _Spike_ being altered? Then again, I didn't know what else that coil was supposed to do and I really did need to. "No, he hasn't. Wes, umm, I was in the middle of _feeding_ Spike." I let the emphasis on the words and my facial expression speak for me. "Sire's blood heals a lot. Give us just a bit to finish and we'll meet you in your casting room, okay?" 

Wesley smiled, one of his tight, very British I-understand-exactly-type smiles. "Of course. Fred?" He gestured towards the elevator. 

Fred nodded. "I'll go get all the instruments and stuff. Sorry again we just barged in but..." 

"Don't worry about it, Fred." I gave her a reassuring smile. I wouldn't have to take radical action. At least not yet. 

I turned back to the room to go complete Spike's feeding and brace him for our little outing. He'd need to be a very good boy indeed. At least with Fred there I knew he'd make his best effort. So predictable, my William.


	10. Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: oral sex.   
> SUMMARY: Spike finds out more about the coil on his spine. Ten in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse prompt#367- possession. 
> 
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Well, I'd been fed. He wasn't planning on starving me, it seemed, which was good. But Sire's blood...damnit. I'd been drinking Angel's blood to heal, and it had pulled us closer, but there was a difference with the soul. I hadn't really been sure til Angelus fed me. The soul did alter the blood. Without it, Sire's blood was back to the dangerously addictive high I recalled as a fledge. My body fairly hummed with sensation. I used to crawl and beg for it at times when I was very young. 

I figured I could keep from being that pathetic, but the other effects were subtler and harder to resist. The only good news from this was that it showed he really wanted me back as his boy. He wouldn't do this, wouldn't strengthen me unless the side effects were more important to him than the risk of me fighting my way free. 

Now the thermoses were drained and Angelus leaned back, looking down at me speculatively, stroking one hand over my chest. "Mmm, my boy, this is annoying. Interrupted before I have a chance to properly use you. Not enough time for that but we're headed down soon, and neither of us are going in this state." He grinned wickedly. "Though I'm sure Wesley would have no objections. You want to kiss that pretty Watcher, my boy? His lips all soft and sweet?" 

His hand encircled my shaft and started stroking. I didn't try to suppress my shiver or my groan, my hips rising. "Your hands," I moaned out softly as I circled my hips and pushed against his grip. 

"I remember," Angelus replied. "You used to write poems about them. Go ahead, Will, enjoy. Want you sated at least for now when you go downstairs." He kept stroking, slowly working the foreskin back. He leaned down with a devilish gleam in his eye, and licked slowly in circles around the tip. 

"Dear god," I gasped out and felt myself jerk and buck in response. It was the blood, I knew. Everything was more intense, more sensitive. And of course he knew it. 

"I'm here, boy," he replied with a chuckle. "Your god again." He applied another long slow lick and then sat back, still stroking me. "Now, to terms. We'll do the whole formal contract later, signed in blood, that sort of nonsense, but let's understand each other. You behave, you pretend I'm still Angel, you are my boy behind closed doors, and your pet humans stay alive." 

Even as my mind was being shattered, I knew that wasn't right. "And unharmed, going on about their jobs and lives as normal." 

Angelus laughed. "As you say." 

He was still too pleased, I'd forgotten something. "And unmolested." 

Angelus tsked. "Now that's no fun." He quirked his lips. "If they come to me without compulsion, that okay with you?" 

"No compulsion, no force. And leave Fred alone, period." I gasped the words out as my thrusts into his hand became urgent. 

"So predictable. Very well, your innocent little friend Fred is safe from me. But boy, if you don't behave, if you cross me, I'll take what action I please. And any way you take, I'll still grab you and keep you. You were meant to be mine and you will be. You're my possession." At that he began stroking himself with his other hand. "You understand?" 

"Yes." It wasn't the best deal ever but it wasn't much to ask to keep them safe. I might have been able to take him out, still might, but I didn't dare try unless I was sure I could do it. Too many lives at risk and he would make them suffer if I crossed him, and he'd make watch. 

A short while later we were both sated and dressed. His arm was tight around my waist as we moved along. We drew glances and stares. There were whispers and I knew before lunch everyone would know that 'Angel' and I were together. 

We arrived at Wesley's personal lab. We stepped inside to the well, I can only call it a 'robing room'. Wesley was waiting and he was in long ritual robes. "You'll both need to strip," he said, looking distinctly uncomfortable. He handed a robe to Angelus and a tiny leather thong to me. 

Angelus scowled at Wesley. "What's with the thong for Spike?" 

"We have to be able to access his skin for the tests, and depending....well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." 

Angelus sighed and growled at the same time. "All right. But you turn around." 

Wesley smiled slightly and turned to face the wall. "Of course." 

I had to chuckle softly. Both Fred and Wesley had seen me naked for tests goodness knows how many times. Yet still it bothered Angelus for someone else to get to see me. We both began to skim out of our clothing and I put on the thong. I knew Wesley had brought it simply for 'Angel's' sake, neither he nor Fred bothered with modesty covers for me otherwise. Quite honestly I had always rather liked the tests. Hell, for the longest time it was the only non-violent physical contact I got. I had to stamp very hard on the temptation to remember the feel of Wes' body pressed up close and the taste of his soft lips. I looked over and Angelus was dressed. 

Wesley handed him a pair of thin leather gloves, and began to pull a pair on himself. "You need to decide, Angel, in or out. If you want to be in the circle you have to stay back and never touch him with bare flesh." 

Angelus growled. "In. If anything happens I want to be there." 

Wesley nodded. I personally wasn't all that keen on Angelus being inside the circle but it's not as if I had much of a choice. We stepped inside the casting room itself only to see that Fred was robed and kneeling in the circle, calibrating some instruments. She flashed me a brilliant smile. "Hey Spike!" 

I had to smile back. "There's my sunshine." Just as well we never went further than a few friendly hugs. She could light me up anytime of the day or night. All sweetness and light despite everything. Angelus was glaring, I could feel it, but I ignored him. Fuck him if he thought I'd stop smiling back at her. 

Wes indicated the rug rolled out in the center of the circle. "If you'd be so kind," he said, with a sweeping gesture. "On your stomach please." There was a small pillow at one end, so I lay with my head resting on crossed arms on the pillow. My skin prickled just feeling the magickal energy in the air. Wes pointed to an empty spot near the outer part of the circle. "Angel, there if you please," he said. 

Angelus moved over and sat, and now he was positioned where he could see me easily. I had to look, and his eyes were black and his expression dangerously calm. God forbid anything went wrong in here. 

Fred seemed settled with her instruments and gave Wes a small nod. He began his chanting. He was mixing together powders and crushed gemstones and other things in a cauldron as he went. A thin fragrant haze filled the air and there was a crackling down my spine that alarmed me. Wesley touched a crystal wand to my spine. There was a flash, then a number of bell-like tones sounded and the air shimmered and moved with the sound. Then everything vanished and cleared. 

"Fred, may I see your readings?" Wesley asked. The two of them conferred in whispers and I deliberately tried not to hear them. Then Wesley looked up. "Well, we think we have an answer. That coil at the moment is rather like an unexploded bomb. The trigger was tripped, the dispel happened, but somehow the dispel didn't reach the shielding magicks around the spell foci. That's the thing with blending magick and tech and other things, it's a delicate process and one thing the least bit off and you can get malfunctions like this." 

I had my own notion of what ate the dispel magicks spell, but of course I couldn't say anything about it. I caught Angelus' eye and I could see he was thinking the same thing. "So what do the little bomb bits in me do if they get loose?" I asked. 

Wesley took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before he answered. "Not anything good. A compulsion spell to make you attack anyone friendly near you, and several nasty damage spells set to shoot out from you to points all around you. I think Ka'Dath intended you to be a sort of weapon for him when Angel came seeking his revenge." 

Angelus growled. "So what can we do about it? We can't just leave it there." 

"No, we can't," Wesley agreed. "Unfortunately our options are limited. Fred and I have discussed it and it boils down to three possibilities. One- try to carefully surgically remove it. However, given the hair trigger nature of the device, this seems like a bad option. Two- surgery, but simply cut off the spinal cord above the coil and remove the whole section. Safer but of course it would leave you, Spike, crippled for many months of healing." 

Angelus interrupted there. "Not going through that again. What's the third option?" 

"We can call in a shaman. Have to be an outsider, as all our in-house shamans...well, shall we say their totems aren't exactly on the good side. They'd leave behind corruption where they practiced and the cure could be worse than the disease. Remember Lindsey's, ummm, evil hand problem?" 

Angelus nodded, his eyes still intently fixed on Wesley. "I do. So, outside shaman. Pros and cons?" 

"Riskier than surgery, but if it works no disability time for Spike. But a shaman with a good healing totem may be reluctant to work on a vampire. Also, a good shaman is usually expensive, and you'll have to sign for the funds, Angel." 

"Damn the expense, we get a shaman. How soon can he or she come? I assume you had one in mind." 

Wesley nodded. "I do. Best in the city. But he won't come in here. He did say he's treated vampires before and he'll do it but we'll have to come to him, and we'll have to follow all his instructions or he can't proceed." 

Angelus gritted his teeth. I could see he was shoving down his temper, luckily for Wes. "Fine. Whatever we need. Get it booked, tell us what we need to do, we're going." 

Wesley and Fred got up. "We'll take care of the arrangements now. It will likely be a few hours before he can be ready for us. If you like you can just wait here." 

I piped in with a grin. "Fine by me." 

Angelus looked at me with eyebrow raised as Wes and Fred left the casting room. "What are you doing, boy?" He asked. 

"Getting us alone again," I said. I let my eagerness show. This was only partly a game. I had to admit it, fooling myself had never worked out well for me. I did want him despite everything. 

That did elicit one of his wicked grins. The good kind. He moved over towards me. "Well, William, you do owe me a servicing." 

That got a grin of my own as he peeled away the robe, revealing himself naked underneath. His shaft was already stiffening in anticipation. He pulled his knees up a bit and spread his legs. His body weight rested on his hands, and he was leaned back slightly. 

I licked my lips, just the tip of my tongue peeking out. His eyes were fixed on me, then. I could feel the erotic tension build. Danger had its own pull for us, and since there wasn't to be any killing yet, this was as good a way to relieve stress as any. Also I knew my welfare and that of my friends depended on how good a 'boy' I was. He needed to be reminded how good I could be. 

My hands stroked down over my own body, not touching the naughty bits but just stroking, touching, letting my lust build and burn in me. It was fuel for me, for my power. I let it free, let it dance over my skin like electric velvet. 

Angelus growled out a warning, even as I could smell his arousal get stronger. "No enchanting me, boy." 

"Not using it on you," I purred. "Just on me." 

He relaxed again and watched. I let the power soak into me, into skin and muscle and tendon and bone. I moved onto hands and knees and the movement felt liquid. The effect of it on Angelus was immediate and visible as he came to attention. Then I began to crawl, slowly, sliding forth hands and knees in a catlike movement that made every muscle on my back and arms ripple under the skin. It always felt to me like I was some great cat, like a panther, each time I did this. 

Angelus growled softly, licking his own lips. "Fuck boy, you are pure sin. Should keep you on a leash to keep you out of trouble. Because you are nothing but sheer wicked temptation." 

I brushed and rubbed my cheek along his calf like an eager kitten. "You always want that. Want to keep me tied to you, a plaything just for your pleasure." I could feel his reactions now, I could feel his lust and his arousal. If I wanted I could reach in and blow the fire into a conflagration, but he'd know I'd done it. I had to be subtler. But he'd not seen me like this since I was a fledge. He had no idea how good I'd gotten. My fingers got to work, stroking on his calves and thighs and behind his knees. I knew where every sensitive spot was, and I hit each of them, like plucking the strings on a harp. He was leaning back on elbows now, panting, erect, with pearls of precum arising one by one. I used my mouth as well, kissing and sucking and gently nipping on the skin of his thigh. 

"Dear god, my boy, even fucking better than I remember." Angelus was now propped on one elbow only and gripped fingers in my hair. It was a loose grip, obviously he wanted me to keep working. I'd moved now to his inner thighs, and worked my way to each, letting my lips barely brush over the skin between. His cock jerked at the contact. "Fuck!" he hissed out. "Stop teasing boy or I'll shove this down your throat." 

I looked up at him letting him see the naked desire in my own eyes. He'd be shoving it before I'd done with him anyway, but it was time to get to the main event. I began licking up along the shaft and working down his foreskin carefully with one hand. With my power up and my senses extended I could tell every sensitive spot and how much pressure it needed. I took ruthless advantage of the knowledge, licking and pressing my tongue along his cock and then wrapping my lips around the delicate head. 

Now he was groaning and growling, hand gripping tighter in my hair. He wanted it now, I could tell, but the pleasure I was building was too good for him to force it...yet. I made sure I locked eyes with him, let him see my lust as I pushed down, taking his cock into my mouth. My cheeks were sucked in hard as he filled my mouth. I was breathing in his scent now, taking him in. My head began to bob and he moaned, a long shuddering moan. 

We were both beginning to melt, to lose ourselves in the act. I was bobbing at a steady rate now, my lips wrapped tight around him, my jaws distended to take him in. His hips moved slowly to meet me. I could feel it, right there, one bit more and he'd force it. He'd relinquish his iron self-control and take me. I wickedly slipped a finger down between his legs, over the tender flesh there and pushing the tip into his nether entrance. 

He growled and roared, gripping my hair painfully and shoving into my mouth. I was expecting it, and I took it. I reveled in it. I kept my jaw open and relaxed my throat to take the vicious face-fucking. I loved him losing control, loved being the one that got this from him. He knew it too, knew I was, for the moment, the one who made things happen, but he couldn't stop it. It was glorious. 

It didn't take long. He'd been primed and ready for a while and he held me tight as he let go. I didn't swallow, I just let him shoot directly down my throat. Then he finally relaxed but didn't release his grip on my hair, slumping back. I waited a moment to let him recover before I slid up along his body. I settled myself alongside him, fitting against him in my 'spot'. 

"Definitely keeping you, my beautiful boy," he whispered out. His voice had gone from a growl to tender, and I passed back a soft purr. He could be like this, after. Sometimes even during. I rubbed my cheek lightly on his chest and my purr got louder. His fingers stroked soothingly through my hair. "Even though you provoke me almost to distraction." 

"You have me," I said with feeling. For all intents and purposes I was. And the hell of it was that it felt so very good.


	11. Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: vague mentions of past physical abuse and other forms of abuse  
> SUMMARY: Spike reflects on the past and weighs his options. Eleven in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse prompt#368- light. 
> 
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language- **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Well, at least I knew what the coil was for. I supposed I should be grateful for the malfunction that brought Angelus back. Otherwise this thing could have killed Fred, Wes, Gunn, and whoever else was along for the fight against Ka'Dath, and maybe killed Angel or me, depending on who won the fight. Angelus I could deal with. Being the death of all those people, I don't know if I could handle that. 

But bloody hell was I in trouble. Because this wasn't the insane twisted wreck of Angelus that surfaced in Sunnydale these few years past. As I snuggled in close to him I could feel what he was feeling, and glimpses of the actual thoughts. He was sated, and he was...happy. And for this brief moment, so was I. I could feel Hell now closer than when Pavayne tried to send me there. 

See, I'd been working on a little project. A gift for Angel. I'd quietly gotten a project slipped in with the official stuff to try to safely remove Angel's curse without removing his soul. I know everyone thinks I'm all fangy and grrr and kill things and no real brains. What, they think I managed to reconstruct the ancient ritual of the Sire's Blood, put the Judge back together, and find the Gem of Amarra purely by blind luck? That's three near-impossible tasks and I did them mostly on my lonesome. I'm just impulsive and hedonistic, doesn't mean I'm stupid. 

They'd been reporting just to me. And I'd gotten reports that hadn't precisely been the news I was looking for. See, Angel's soul, strictly speaking, wasn't his. Angel's 'soul' wasn't Liam, it was a troubled soul needing to suffer before it could enter grace. It was all the gypsies could conjure up. Getting someone's original soul takes big mojo and sacrifices. And for a vampire, even harder, as the human souls aren't usually keen to be pulled back from their eternal reward. Mine was mine, cos I paid for it in blood and trial, and because William wouldn't let himself get pulled into the great beyond. William had been ghosting quietly along the whole time. I asked the shaman the hard questions about my soul before I left Africa. So I'd 'spent a few weeks in a basement', as Angel had put it. And soul and demon worked fine together. We wanted each other. Angel was a passenger, serving out a sentence in a vampire, so of course he fought Angelus, pressed him down, feared and hated him. And so here we were again. Maybe if the soul had paid its freight it might not even be available to come back. 

_And_ I knew there were no more Orbs of Thessulah left. Someone at Wolfram and Hart had arranged a task force to get rid of them. Willow had used the one Giles gave her already. So even if there was a soul left to call, we'd no way to call it. 

Buffy would likely tell me we should just kill him. So I wasn't going to call her. She had no experience with the Evil Empire, and no way Wolfram and Hart would let us get away with killing their CEO. They'd either kill us all or work out some way to force one of us to take over the job. Probably me, knowing the hard-on W&H had for souled vampires. Also, except for me, all the others had signed those rutting contracts. The firm owned them body, soul, and afterlife. Killing Angelus wouldn't free anyone but me, and probably get us all killed or tormented or whatever else the Senior Partners decided they wanted. 

I'd come up with something. It just couldn't happen anytime soon. It would have to be some way to free all of us without killing Angelus. Failing that....I sighed softly. Failing that if I could somehow free the others, I'd do it. I'd survived the worst of Angelus' attentions before and I was much older and stronger now. And there were times, like now, when I could stay willingly forever. But the others couldn't know. I'd have to plot and plan alone because they had to remain in the dark. 

I wriggled uncomfortably. Angelus stroked a hand down my back and cupped the small of it. "Shhh, my boy, settle. I've got you." 

Oh fuck. I did still myself, my purr unabated. I was so buggered. If Angelus was going to be like his old self, if he was only going to indulge in rather ordinary villainy, I didn't know if I would be capable of fighting him. Not in the way I'd need to. He was my first...well, my first in almost everything important. 

Angelus wouldn't be like this always. His nature would tell and he'd have me bound and screaming. But all of those I loved hurt me. Drusilla had never physically hurt me, but she'd tormented me, often forgetting who I was and calling me Daddy and begging me to hurt her. Buffy, on the other hand.... Well, for us fighting was foreplay. But then came that awful day I'd tried to stop her from turning herself into the police. And she'd beaten me down, and kept on beating me til I couldn't move. She'd left me there. If I hadn't managed to crawl into shelter, I would have gone with the sun. She never even asked after how I'd survived. And there was more beside. I paid for every tiny scrap of affection by being there for her to use. In whatever way she wanted, whether I said no or yes. I'd loved both of them with every bit of my heart and neither of them had really seen me. I'd fit a space that needed filling. I wasn't a full person to either of them, not really, not truly. 

But when Angelus had tormented me... I knew every moment, I could see it in his eyes, and hear it in his voice.... He knew me, he saw me. And later he would come to heal it. Sometimes right after, if he was torturing me just to amuse himself. Sometimes it would be much later if he was punishing me. And whenever it was he'd whisper sweet nothings to me, often bathe me after, hold me close. Pain or pleasure, there was never any doubt that at the moments he was with me there could be no one else that took my place. There was so much wrapped into it, father issues, my need for a grown man's approval, my first real passion that was returned, my need to matter, my need for contact of any kind and particularly for affection. It was love between demons, and human standards didn't quite apply then. And I found that now, even with a soul, human standards still didn't quite apply. 

I didn't think Angelus knew exactly why he had me. But he still had me, dammit. As much as I didn't approve of killing for no reason, if it wasn't anyone I knew I could probably ignore it. At least for a while. There was no way this couldn't end badly. I knew it. I also knew he was the only one who'd ever loved me as much as I'd loved him. It was crazy, obsessive, possessive, painful, overwhelming, completely blind love. And if he could keep his word about those precious few others I gave a damn about, I couldn't see any way I could give it up. 

I lay there, purring, luxuriating in the feel of his skin against mine, in the scent of him, in the slow stroking of his hand on my back and ass. I traced light fingertips across his skin, tracing the muscles. He made a soft growl and nipped my ear but I continued and he gave a softer growl and nipped at my neck again. He was being indulgent, and letting me touch him. Letting me show affection. 

I could almost feel Wesley approaching before I could hear him. "We've got company coming." 

"Let him see," Angelus insisted, and indeed pinned me down with a toe-curling kiss just as Wes came into the room. 

"Ummm...." Wesley stopped, then regained his composure, though the scent of his arousal was impossible to miss. "It's about time to leave to get to the shaman." 

Angelus chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose." He let me up and we wandered off to dress, each of us scandalizing Wes at our lack of shame. 

Well now, all I had to do is try and save the day. God help us all. Because I could not see the light at the end of this tunnel, and if I did it would probably be a train.


	12. Risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: nudity; mentions of abusive control magicks.   
> SUMMARY: Spike and Angelus go to the shaman. Twelve in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse prompt#369- making ends not quite meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

It didn't take us long to get to the shaman's office in the executive medical transport, which resembled an SUV stretch limo from the outside. We'd been ensconced comfortably in the limo portion. 

I was a bit worried, to be honest, about involving an outside party. I controlled the employees of Wolfram and Hart, but not this person that was going to have Spike's unlife in his hands. And that lack of control bothered me. I was less worried about the procedure. Wesley wouldn't have recommended him if he wasn't the best. 

We entered the office and it positively reeked of sage and other herbs. The walls were done in soft pastels and decorated with various pieces of Native American art. It was obviously past his normal hours as there seemed to be no one around. 

It only took a moment before he appeared. He was obviously Native American. He walked barefoot and was clad simply in loose yoga pants and a half-buttoned blue shirt, with a necklace of tiny colorful beads. He was a handsome fellow with dark eyes and long dark hair. He extended his hand with a smile. "I'm John Whiteagle. You must be Angel," he said to me, shaking my hand. Then he turned. "And you must be Spike," he said, and shook Spike's hand. He had a deeply thoughtful look on his face for a moment. "Spike, I really need you to do a little ritual cleansing before we proceed. If you go down the hallway here, second door to the left, everything is set for you." 

As soon as Spike was gone he turned back to me, his expression serious but serene. "I need to know from you, do you want this to work? Do you want him to come out unhurt?" 

I frowned and scowled. "Of course I do." 

"Then you can't be in the room." He raised a hand to stop the angry remarks I was about to make. "This is one of the most complex operations I've ever done. That thing has small tethers connecting it to an alternate dimension. It also has internal barbs sunk into the bone. I've spent the past two hours making sacred space and calling in the favors of many friendly spirits. I'm trying to do an operation while I'm also juggling chainsaws, metaphorically. And without meaning to, you can disrupt things very easily with your temper and possessiveness. I have a viewing room, heavily warded, where you can watch him." 

I let out a long, slow sigh. "Very well." I didn't like it, not at all, but hell I was paying for his expertise, I should listen. Besides, nothing could go wrong with this, I wanted my boy whole. 

John Whiteagle showed me to the viewing room. "Oh, one last thing, we'll both be naked. But I promise you, neither of us will be feeling any arousal. That room is soaked in damping energy." 

I growled softly but settled in a thickly padded armchair. It was one-way glass evidently, looking into the 'treatment' room. Inside was a thick bed of furs, and all about where candles, incense, and various objects. I tried to relax as the shaman left and I waited to see the ritual. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The ritual bath was nice. Water about as hot as I could stand, with all sorts of oils and such mixed into the water. I soaked as long as I could, and came out fragrant, warmed through, and relaxed. I toweled off and pulled on the robe left out for me. It didn't take too much time until the shaman came for me. He was so lovely and under most circumstances I would probably be flirting harmlessly with him. But right now all I could feel was this serenity that seemed to press everything else away. 

He led me off into the chamber. I'd seen places like this before and this was a nice one. The energy was palpable in the room, like a heavy blanket. I shed the robe and he gestured for me to lie down. The room was eerily quiet as he picked up a brush and dipped it into something blackish and gooey and began to paint on himself, then me. I could feel the symbols working their way down my spine. 

The air in the room grew thicker. I could see out of the corners of my eyes vague outlines of animals in the air. John has started chanting and the air vibrated now, and there were sparks of light. He seemed to wrap the fingers around something in the air and slice it with a ritual knife. Then he set aside the knife and the chanting grew more and more feverish. 

Then I saw it, the thin scalpel-like shards that crackled into existence around me. They crossed and twisted and bent, making ends not quite meet. Whether the shards were a protection or a prison wasn't obvious and I couldn't ask the chanting shaman. Then I felt his hands enter my body. It was a ghostlike sensation, just the energy of hand-like shapes in my body, then they were out again and the shards shattered and melted away. John was still chanting as he took the object in his hands and dropped it into a crystal tube filled with liquid and pressed a metal stopped in the opening. 

The feel of power was sucked out of the room in a whoosh of air. John staggered over and sat on the furs, pulling on a robe before he collapsed, laying back heavily on the furs. I took the hint and pulled on the robe I'd come in with. I was shaky but the shaman looked completely wiped out. 

"You can come in now, Angel," said John. 

A door suddenly appeared in the wall and Angelus stepped inside. He was a blur as he moved to the furs and had me on his lap, arms wrapped tight. His hands were moving possessively over me. He growled at the shaman. "Did it work? Is he all right?" 

John nodded. "Completely out. It's in that shielded container now. You can take it back to your people to study." John shook his head. "That is one of the foulest things I've ever touched. I can tell you there's a deeper enchantment in there your people didn't find. It tried to burn me as I worked to take it out. After all the other spells triggered that... _thing would have grown and curled up along his spine and into his brain. It would have made him a slave hopeless to disobey orders but left his mind intact."_

_That got a full-throat growl and game face from both of us. "How dare that creature..." Angelus stopped mid-sentence. "I will end him."_

_That was a sentiment I whole-heartedly agreed with._


	13. Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: brief mentions of torture, death, and m/m sex.   
> SUMMARY: Angelus has a little talk with the shaman; plans are made to take care of Ka'Dath. Thirteen in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse prompt#370- storm. 
> 
> AUTHOR NOTE: There is an original character used here, the shaman, John Whiteagle. I've used him in another fic Sanguine Revival, but those two stories are not in the same AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

"You should probably wait a little bit before heading out. What we just did was like a storm in the spiritual realms all around this place. All sorts of little dimensional things will have been attracted by the activity. They'll eat up the energy that escaped and leave unless something else interesting presents itself. And you two definitely qualify as interesting." John sat up slowly and reached over, grabbing a clear bag of what seemed to be dried fruit. 

"Good, cos I wasn't much wanting to move much yet." Spike sank back onto the furs with a grateful sigh. 

Ah well, stuck here for a while longer it seemed. Something about the shaman made me uncomfortable, so I wasn't particularly happy about sticking around. On the other hand, no sense in serving up lunch for nasty astral beasties. I figured I might as well make some use of the time. "Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if I hadn't gone to the shielded booth?" 

John finished chewing the bite of fruit in his mouth and swallowed. "I wouldn't have done the ritual." 

I had to raise an eyebrow at that. "And if I threatened to kill you if you didn't do it?" 

"Then you'd've had to kill me. At least you'd only be getting me killed and not Spike as well." John's expression seemed entirely serious, and the tone of his voice firm but not confrontational. 

I was taken aback really. Nonplussed. "So you'd've died rather than risk Spike getting killed? Why? You don't know him, do you?" 

John shrugged. "I don't know either of you except by reputation. What can I say? I take my oaths a bit more seriously than most doctors." He smiled slightly at that. "And I contemplated the risk when I agreed to see you. Treating vampires and other demons generally known for violence isn't a safe thing. But if I don't treat you, I leave you to the shamans in your employ. They'd do it without question, but they couldn't help but leave corruption behind where they touched. Like the transplants they do." 

"So you did it because we're 'good' vampires and you want us to stay that way?" I asked, making the air quotes with my fingers around the word good. 

"No. I did it because you are sentient beings who need my help." He looked at me and then at Spike, then back at me. "You put too much emphasis on good and evil, like most white men, as if there were some rules about such things, as if there were absolutes. Everything is in shades of gray. We all draw our lines where we choose. That thing would have hurt many people if it were left inside Spike, including Spike. To leave it in causes definite harm to many. To remove it causes no definite harm. So for me there is no question. And if I am wrong, if I have done a wrong thing, then the cost for the wrong will come back to me in time." He sighed. "And it's foolishness of the worst sort for me to explain this. Words can't truly reveal a person's spirit. If you've got certain ideas about my motives, nothing I say can truly change those ideas, only you can choose to alter them." He took another handful of the dried fruit and began to chew on it. 

And thinking on it, he was probably right. I didn't trust him before, and I still didn't now. There had to be some angle for him, some reason for all this. But he was too cagey by half for me to get an answer that would tell me a damned thing I needed to know. It did make me rather pleased with myself for not blustering at him beforehand. If he'd pushed me then I don't know what I'd've done. Kill him for challenging me or let him live to fix Spike? Hah, and everyone thought Spike was the impulsive one. He was only impulsive when it wasn't important. Now, when the lives of his friends depended on him, every move was deliberate. 

Which reminded me, time to pay him some attention. I shifted position to drape him on my chest and stroked his back slowly. He purred, low and steady, and wriggled to find his spot. Had I gone soft? No. I'd reclaimed him, pulled him down to his base. This was how I treated him as a fledge, for the most part. Lots of gentle contact, but always pulling him to me, keeping him close. It worked on him well. He needed touch, craved it. 

When he wasn't starved for affection, physical and otherwise, he was more docile, more obedient. Worst mistake I'd made with him, back in Sunnydale and also as his Sire over a hundred years ago, was to forget this, or take it for granted. When I'd thought to punish him as a fledge by pushing him away, denying my touch, he just threw himself into fighting and growing stronger. Then it was too late, I was caged, and he killed his first Slayer. Then in Sunnydale I'd wanted to punish him for daring to use that ritual on me, for... for getting himself maimed and crippled. I took Drusilla away from him again to show him I could. And he showed me again he'd just fight back. 

So I intended to tame him this time. I wanted him to be mine and only mine, dammit. I could be very patient when I chose. I was going to get his devotion back. I was going to enslave a souled vampire to my will. And when he was mine completely I could do anything I wanted so long as I didn't forget how needy and affectionate he was. 

I was pulled out of this pleasant reverie by John cocking his head and pronouncing, "It's safe for you to leave now. The hungry spirits are all gone again." 

"Thanks. I do really appreciate what you did." That was genuine enough. He'd pulled a bomb out of Spike and I'm betting even the best over at W&H would have trouble matching his power. 

"It was my pleasure. If you'll pardon me, I need to go find my partner and have a long hot soak." He stood up with a fair amount of grace. He'd probably make a stunning vampire. The fleeting thought passed as the shaman left and I pulled Spike to his feet. A short while later he was dressed and we were back in the limo headed to W&H. 

We found the others waiting. "Success," I said with a grin as I held up the crystal vial with the vicious snake charm within. My other arm was around Spike's waist, holding him close to me. 

There was a general outburst of cheers and clapping and Wesley stepped forward to take the vial. "Fascinating," he said. "Something for later study. In the meantime, we have good news of our own. We have a location for Ka'Dath. We were able to use the readings we've been taking on the coil to backtrack to the source. We know where he is now. We can plan and move against him."

I nodded. "Something more complex than my patented burst of violence, I take it?" 

Wesley smiled slightly. "Yes, something slightly more complex than that. I have an idea I've been working on. Pardon me, I need to call down to the labs." Wesley stepped back and took out his cell phone. 

Fred stepped a little closer, looking sheepish. "Oh, ummm, I know this isn't a big deal with everything that is going on and all, but I'm sorry for the mix-up with the Morphea blossoms. We've been working on them for demon and vampire medicines, especially since there's a lot of demons that can't use regular anesthetics or pain medicines. Anyhow I _told_ Knox to send a plant that had already pollinated, the scent of those is just mildly relaxing, and he sent one that was ripe for releasing pollen. And well, ummm, a full dose tends to have a strong aphrodisiac effect." She blushed bright red. "I hope it didn't cause any problems." 

I smiled reassuringly at her and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "No, Fred, really, it helped." 

Spike moved in to hug her. I suppressed the urge to growl, mostly because there wasn't any hint of arousal when he hugged her. It was all protectiveness. "No worries, pet. Though maybe Knox needs a little punishment detail, cleaning out beakers and the like?" 

Fred giggled. Jesus Joseph and Mary but she radiated sweetness. I had to remind myself she was the price for my boy. More than anything else he was behaving to keep her safe. I just tried to fix her in my mind as Spike's private pet. Like the occasional 'doll' Dru would bring home to play with, though she always tired of them in time. The others I'd seduce and bend, slowly but surely. Then it hit me. I'd assumed Ka'Dath had intended for me to come back. But... it was either a mistake by Fred or a deliberate action on Knox's part. If Knox did it deliberately, I needed to know why and for whom. Knox wasn't someone Spike had bargained for, in fact he radiated dislike for the tech. I made a mental note to find and torture Knox later. 

"Thanks Spike, thanks Angel. I was really worried something bad..." She stopped, and looked at Spike. "I mean, after everything..." 

Spike squeezed her shoulder. "Sunshine, you could never do anything bad. It's not in you." 

He was rewarded with her very sunniest smile. "Thanks," she said. 

Wesley hung up the cellphone. "I got confirmation on the last item we needed. I have a fix on his location and I rather thought that Ka'Dath might, well, allow us in if Spike were along. If we made a reasonable mock-up of the coil, if he thought it was still in place, he'd want to spring the trap. In return we could use the mock-up to carry in weapons for our side, not for his." 

I frowned. It made sense but I didn't like the idea of using Spike as bait. But I couldn't find anything wrong with the theory and I really wanted to pull out his insides and see what they looked like up close. 

Spike nodded. "Do it. I'm game, I want that slimy tentacled bastard dead." 

Gunn chuckled. "Be like old times, we actually get to go in and kill the bad guys." 

I had to smile at that. "Yes, indeed. I think it sounds like a plan." 

Wesley nodded. "Very well then, I'll get my team to work on things. Fred, we need to coordinate on a substitute for that alloy." 

She looked over at Wesley, her eyes glowing. "Of course, Wesley. Your office?" 

"Certainly." He stepped over and offered her his arm, and they left. 

Ah, such cute lovebirds. It was enough to both make me ill and also remind me that Spike was overdue to be pounded into some handy surface. "I think that's our cue. Gunn, you don't mind if I take Spike to get some rest? It's been a long evening for us all." 

Gunn nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I have some weapons to sharpen." He clapped a hand on each of our upper arms then headed off. 

Now it was just my boy. I slung him over my shoulder caveman-style and carried him off. He chuckled at that and even did some pro-forma damsel-in-distress kicking and struggling. A satisfying evening all round, I thought. Revenge and sex, one of my favorite cocktails.


	14. Reckoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT: torture; descriptions of m/m sex  
> SUMMARY: The mission to take care of Ka'Dath. Fourteen in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse prompt#371- gilded cage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x08 - "Destiny"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Finally I had a moment or two to myself to think. Angelus had me pinned to sleep, arms and one leg wrapped around me. I was pleasantly exhausted, my body aching wonderfully in several places. I hated to admit it, but Angelus was still the best partner I'd ever had in bed. He hadn't let me do anything tonight, didn't even fuck me til he'd teased and sucked and stroked me into a few mind-blowing orgasms. He'd taken his time, worked all the little secret spots he knew on me. Talked low and dirty in my ear. I ended up begging him to tie my hands because he wouldn't let me touch him and I couldn't hold still. 

Everything felt better with the coil gone. The remnants of the violation and illness that had come after..well, after Ka'dath was completely gone now. And I didn't know why Angelus was being so gentle with me. It was like the honeymoon period I'd had with him when he made me. Bit by bit he'd gotten wilder and rougher but still it was almost all for pleasure. He took me from blushing virgin to his willing and skilled catamite. And it was so damn good it made me glow inside still, remembering it. 

And I couldn't trust it. This was Angelus and I wasn't a fledge anymore. There had to be something behind this. He had to smile a little. This reminded me of Seducer training with Darla when after a tough lesson I'd remarked, well whined really, 'It's so _hard_ to concentrate when I'm horny or shagging.' She'd laughed and commented that's why Seducers were seldom known as great masterminds. It was hard to contemplate some master plan or make any great conclusions while having mind-blowing sex. 

Unfortunately I was no closer to figuring a way out of this than I had been to start. He hadn't let me out of his sight since he unchained me from the bed in the 'playroom'. He was constantly touching me, holding me, keeping me close to him. No one thought anything amiss with that, of course. Naturally 'Angel' was worried about me. Nothing much could be done without at least a little time apart to set something up. I let my mind worry over my dilemma as I slipped off into sleep. 

Morning came all too soon. I woke up being carried by Angelus to the shower. I blinked sleepily at him. "It's too early for all this." 

Angelus chuckled. "I know you like to sleep in, little hedonist, but there's work to be done today." He set me on my feet in the shower and started the water flowing. It took us a while to actually get clean, as the two of us naked with water and soap provided too much temptation for naughtiness. 

It was perilously easy to get comfortable with this treatment. Angelus was playful and relaxed when he was in a good mood. And unlike Angel, he possess a wicked sense of humor. More and more he seemed like the Sire I'd run with a hundred years ago and not the madman I'd faced a handful of years ago in Sunnydale. The hell of it was that I'd loved him then. I'd worshipped him. If I hadn't needed to look after Dru, I might have walked into the sunrise, that's how intensely I'd loved him. 

I had to face facts, at the moment I was trapped in a very nicely gilded cage. And thus far I couldn't even see the door, much less figure out the locks. 

We dressed and headed down to the office. Harmony came in with blood for both of us. "Umm, Boss, Wesley said to cancel your appointments today, is that right?" 

"Yes, Harmony. Gotta go after the bad guy today," Angelus replied. He did a passable imitation of Angel's manner. 

It wasn't long before Wes, Gunn, and Fred arrived. Wes and Fred were fairly bubbling with excitement. "We got the fake coil done." Wes held up a silver snake coil that looked almost identical to the one removed from my back. 

"Looks about right," I said. "How does it get in place?" 

Fred frowned slightly. "Well, it's hard to explain. It kinda, umm, slip dimensions."

"It what?" Angelus and I exclaimed almost in unison. 

"Well I've been working on that for medical procedures. Like if you could directly put chemotherapy medicine directly into the cancer mass and nowhere else. I've got a procedure that works on metal but I'm still trying to puzzle out using it on other things." 

"Wow." I was stunned and impressed. "Awright, what do you need to do?" 

"Just touch it to the bare skin where I want it to go." 

I nodded and skimmed off the duster and lifted my T-shirt. Fred came over and touched the cold metal to my skin and then it was gone. Fred scanned me with some machine and nodded, satisfied. "It's in there perfectly, and it gives back the proper readings." 

"Good. So do we get to go kill things now?" I pulled my shirt down and slid back into my duster. 

"Pretty soon," Fred said, giggling. Her giggling was just about my favorite sound ever. "We need to put these little foci on our weapons so the spell summons them when the false snake is triggered." 

That only took a few minutes, that and attuning each foci to where the weapon should appear. It should provide a nasty surprise to Ka'Dath. Everyone dressed, we clambered into the armored van and headed towards Ka'Dath's palace. 

Even in the van, on the way to a major fight, Angelus had me pulled back against his chest, one hand stroking my belly. He occasionally nuzzled into my hair, which, by the way, he didn't let me gel down anymore. It was in soft messy curls. I let myself relax against him. It was soothing, the contact and the stroking, and I purred softly, heedless of the others. Angel hadn't been given to much in the way of public displays of affection. Too damn uptight. But fuck if I cared if others saw. 

It didn't take too long to get there. We all piled up and approached the gate. A light played over us all briefly and then the gate opened. We walked in, keeping in formation, Angelus in front, me behind him, Wes and Gunn flanking me on each side and Fred in the back. The formation was perfect for what Ka'Dath's coil was supposed to do, and we were pretty sure he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation. 

The huge heavy doors of the castle opened and we entered. A few other heavy doors groaned open for us and then we were inside the chamber I'd first seen Ka'Dath in. He was lounging there with his slaves, and his tentacles were caressing and penetrating a female Satyrna demon. She was gagged so her moans and whimpers were well-muffled. 

"So you come here, all bold and unarmed." Ka'Dath sounded amused. "You can't possibly thinking you can take me on. Tell you what, Angel, I'll give you a good offer on the lot of them. I already know how delicious Spike is." 

Angelus vamped, his features shifting and his fingernails turning into claws. "A vampire is never unarmed." 

"Only two of you are vampires, and one of the humans is a sorcerer. The other two are unarmed. I will take those odds." Ka'Dath let the demoness go and straightened to his full height, obscenely muscled body and numerous tentacles. The tentacles grabbed weapons from the recesses of the platform. All except two, that gestured with Ka'Dath as he cast a spell. 

His face crumpled in shock and horror as weapons appeared in our hands and fire and lightning burst around his body. He screamed, a deafening shriek of horror, and several of his tentacles were severed or the ends burnt away by the blast. 

I shifted as well as we all got into the fight. Wes and Fred set down a blistering line of fire to cover myself, Angel, and Charlie getting close enough to fight, then they moved to each side to cover our backs in case guards came in. Ka'Dath was riddled with bullet wounds already, oozing green ichor, as we made it to him. Angelus and Gunn swung axes, I was thrusting with a sword. It was almost too easy, he was in too much shock to fight back with the few tentacles that still held weapons. A few chops and thrusts later and he was down. 

Angelus moved up to him and used the axe to slice his belly open. He got down and grabbed fistfuls of stinking green guts and pulled them out. "How's this for violation?" He hissed in Ka'Dath's ear. "You're getting much too merciful a death. I'd like to spend a few days seeing what kind of tolerance you have for pain. But I'll just have to settled for what I can get before you die." His hands squeezed harder, drawing piteous and horrible screams from Ka'Dath. 

Fred looked horrified, Gunn concerned. Wes' face was almost unreadable, calm and expressionless. Myself, I felt a grim satisfaction in this little bit of mutilation and torture. It took only a few minutes for him to die. Angelus stood up and wiped his hands on Ka'Dath's cape. He looked over at Wes as he moved over to me. "They coming?" 

Wes nodded. "I signaled the extraction team as soon as he was down. They should be here very soon." 

As if on cue, the sound of helicopters inbound could be hurt. All too soon the place was swarming with black-clad Wolfram and Hart thugs. They freed the slaves and bustled them off. Strike teams with sorcerers and shamans in support spread out to secure the place and take anything useful. Myself, I didn't care much. Angelus pulled me in close as we walked out to one of the big copters. All of us loaded in and the copter took off. 

I felt a profound sense of relief and a sense of safety I didn't know I was missing til then. The bastard who'd reached inside me and done things no creature should have to experience was dead. I leaned into Angelus' body and he made a short satisfied sound as his arm curled around me. 

We were headed home. Home. I shook my head. A penthouse at an evil law firm with one of the most feared evil vampires of all times as my bedmate, that was home now. But I was completely relaxed against him and I found I didn't really mind at the moment. I was ready to go home.


	15. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT: het sex(non-graphic); bloodplay; m/m sex; bdsm themes  
> SUMMARY: A new player enters the fray; and Spike is having problems deciding what to do about Angelus. Fifteen in the Victory Verse.   
> AUTHOR'S NOTE: New first-person POV at the beginning of the chapter, but it should be quickly obvious who.  
> Distribution: Various lists, Wierd Romance Yahoo Group- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WierdRomance ;   
> My livejournal - http://salustra.livejournal.com/ . No posting elsewhere without express permission please.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x10 - "Soul Purpose"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Waiting was getting tedious. Something had happened to change everything up at my old firm, and until Eve got her ass over here I couldn't be sure what it was. Spike had been drifting away from the others and I'd intended to rope him in, get him playing hero, but now he was plastered to Angel's side. I never thought the uptight bastard would let himself go again. Even Darla hadn't been able to loosen him up, even with drugs and every trick at her disposal. Well, maybe the rumors about those two were true. 

I had to admit to myself a little bit of jealousy. Torture couldn't drag this out of me but I needed to be honest with myself. There was a deep and twisted attraction I had for Angel. It was never, ever going to happen but it colored everything involving him and I knew it. So I was jealous of Spike. Well, more fuel to my fire for revenge. 

I heard the door opening and I had to smile as Eve walked in. "Hey, beautiful," I called out. "What's the good word?" 

She sighed heavily and started peeling off her clothes, setting them on a chair next to her. "No good news. Bad news. Disaster. I haven't been able to get away in days because the Senior Partners are either talking to me or having me monitor Angel...or, should I say, Angelus." 

"Angelus?" I sat upright at that. "How the hell did that happen? And why haven't his little friends either staked him or tried to resoul him yet?" 

"As to how it happened, I don't know for sure. Some spell gone haywire, something like that. But 'his little friends' don't know. And the Senior Partners have ordered me not to tell them or anyone else at Wolfram and Hart. I'm lucky they didn't swear me to total silence on the subject or I couldn't even tell you. The Senior Partners are just fine having Angelus on board, especially as Angelus seems to have made his first order of business getting Spike firmly under his thumb. Having the only souled vampire owned and controlled by one of the most evil who also is under contract? That's perfect for their purposes. And Angelus so far is doing a good job of acting like Angel around the office. He also apparently is treating Spike like gold and Spike is responding with kitten-like devotion." She sighed again. "And they're glued together, I haven't seen them separated since I told Angelus the Senior Partners approved of him. He keeps Spike within touching distance and usually being touched or held. So the Selminth parasite is no good. No chance of getting close enough without one of them waking up." 

By this time she was stripped and in bed with me. I put an arm around her and pulled her close. "It's not a disaster. We'll just have to come up with some new strategies. Don't take any chances with Angelus though. Angel would need a lot of proof and approval from his human pets to take action. Angelus doesn't care about any of that. Be very careful." I stroked her cheek and kissed her. "I can't lose you." 

She pushed closer against me and kissed me back. "I'll be careful. I've read the files, I don't want to end up one of his victims." 

"Enough talking for now. I've missed you. We have a lot of lost time to make up." I rolled her onto her back and started kissing her neck. 

"Mmm, now this I like." She curled fingers into my hair and stroked her legs down my sides. I gladly let go of my worries and set about making us both happy. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

It had been several days since we'd taken out Ka'Dath. Angelus still wasn't letting me out of his sight. He had a comfy chair moved in just for me in the big office, so I could lounge decadently while he handled his daily routine. Unlike Angel he kept his workload to the minimum, only the things that the CEO really needed to deal with personally. More time for us. We sparred, we relaxed in the hot tub, he even took me out to movies and to restaurants. He ate food, something Angel almost never did. He took me shopping. He indulged me in every little thing. And then there was the sex. Oh dear god the sex. 

Most of all he was courting me. He wanted me, and he was willing to work to have me. I could feel my resolve crumbling. My greatest weakness was being wanted and being needed. The main thing keeping me from giving in and falling completely was the knowledge that this was _Angelus_. He couldn't be trusted. Sooner or later he was going to revert to form. He had to, right? This couldn't be a changed Angelus. 

And there I ran into another trap. I'd changed. I'd changed even before the soul. Was it possible Angelus had changed? He'd had a long time trapped to think about things. If he really had changed... I wanted it so badly that I couldn't trust myself to judge it. I couldn't fault him on the bargain thus far, though. His only interaction with the others was either professional or fake-Angel-cordial. They hadn't even hinted that they saw anything wrong. 

It was Friday night. Work was done and he was taking me up to the penthouse. As soon as we were in the elevator he pushed me against the back of the elevator and captured my lips. His hands grabbed mine and held them at them against the wall. I was hardening already and I could feel him hard against my hip. He growled low in his throat and rocked against me. I made a soft purr-growl in return, pushing back against him. pulling against his grip and wriggling, trying to escape. He growled again and gripped tighter. "You make me utterly crazy, my beautiful boy." 

The elevator door opened and I grinned, dropping down and breaking his grip, running towards the bedroom. He loved a chance to chase me and I loved what happened when he caught me. We reached the bedroom and I bounded over the bed, heading for the exit to the balcony. Only Angelus put on a burst of speed and caught me first. He wrapped an arm around me and spun, shoving me onto the bed. I landed in an untidy sprawl and then crouched like a panther, eyes gleaming. My wicked grin was an invitation to be captured and conquered. 

He stopped to shed his coat, and toed out of his shoes. I wriggled out of my duster, keeping an eye on him, and kicked off my boots. I had untied them earlier, I knew something would happen after hours. Then I was back on hands and knees, watching him warily, turning to face him as he circled. 

We had both let ourselves drop unconsciously almost into hunting mode. Our demon faces had come out to play. He was pacing back and forth around the bed, a big lion looking for his opening. I was getting more and more excited. There was a thrill to this, to being hunted. 

He was teasing me a bit more, stripping off his shirt, tempting me with a bit more flesh. I growled softly and kept turning, kept watching. He must have found his opening because he pounced. He was on my back, arm around my belly and teeth on my shoulder where it joined my neck. It was a dominance bite but not a punishing one. It was possessive and very intimate. I didn't struggle, my whole body quivering from the excitement and the bite. 

He used his spare hand to rip my T-shirt off my body. He pulled away the remnants, then slid his hand down to unbutton my jeans and push them down. His teeth pulled out of my flesh and he licked the wounds clean. I made soft purring and mewling noises, grinding my now bare ass against him. 

"Tease," he whispered low in my ear. "You're a tease and a temptation." He moved his free hand to unzip his own pants, and I could feel his heavy cock now sliding along the split between my asscheeks. Now his free hand gripped my hair. "Did you lube earlier like a good boy?" 

I growled back. "You know I did, you watched me." 

He chuckled. "Now, now, boy, no need to be so testy. Was quite a show too. I should've had you go under the desk and suck me after, you had me so hard. Now don't you drop that demon face til I say." He rolled me over onto my back and pinned me down again, his hand fisting my hair again and pulling so my neck arched. My mouth was open as I moaned and growled softly. 

He leaned in close, and his tongue slid along my upper lip and then down and over one of my exposed fangs. Extended fangs for us are sexual organs of a sort. They're more sensitive than anything else in our anatomy and seldom used as Angelus was using them, because few vamps trusted another to allow this sort of contact. I whimpered and keened as pleasure flooded into me, my cock suddenly rock-hard and weeping. His tongue moved to pay attention to the other upper fang and it only took a few licks before I lost control against his hard belly. It was too much, I was drowning in sensation and he showed no signs of stopping. 

I could feel now his thumb on my lower lip and his index finger ever so delicately caressing each lower fang in turn. I was melting, I was dissolving, I was utterly lost. My body jerked and arched against his, my hands clawed the bed. I was more high now than with any drug I'd ever sampled in my wicked unlife. Only the coolness of his skin against mine let me know where I ended and he began. I don't know how long he continued. I couldn't tell time, a nuclear blast could have happened and I wouldn't have noticed it. I only know at some point he stopped and I was a quivering mass of flesh on the bed, impaled firmly on his hard cock. 

"Shh, shh, my boy, I have you," Angelus murmured softly, stroking my hair. He slid slowly out of me and just held me close. I pressed into him, clung to him like the rawest fledge. He took a nail and sliced along his shoulder near where I nuzzled him. "Drink. No fangs. It'll soothe you." I pressed my lips to the wound. He'd cut deep enough the blood would well on its own for a while without help. I sucked the rich wine into my mouth, and it hit, as always, but it was like a good whiskey, that numbed even as it burned. I was slowly coming back to myself. His hands were on me, stroking my hair and between my shoulder blades softly and steadily. He pulled a thick soft blanket over us, well mostly me, and the warmth and the softness comforted me as well. 

I had to laugh a bit at myself. It was aftercare, like any good dom vampire gave his boy after an intense round of dominance play or discipline or so forth. Angelus had brought me down further than I'd ever gone, all without tying me up, without a single lash, just with pure pleasure. Down that far he could have done anything to me. I would have happily agreed to almost anything. But all he'd done was hold me and slowly bring me back. 

The cut was slowly closing now, I finished it with a few careful licks. I pressed my face into the crook of his neck and tried very hard not to sob. It was a lie, it had to be. Just another deception, another way to get me to trust him. This couldn't be sincere, this couldn't be how he really was now. My heart wanted so badly to believe it, to just give in and open myself totally, and my head slammed down with a harsh hell no! This. was. Angelus. I needed to repeat that to myself like a mantra, to never forget who and what he was. 

He continued to whisper to me and stroke me and hold me until I passed into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	16. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT: references to m/m sex   
> SUMMARY: Lindsey makes his next move against Angelus. Sixteen in the Victory Verse.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x10 - "Soul Purpose"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )   
>  FEEDBACK: Yes please.

I'd been stewing for a while as to what to do about, well, the Angelus problem. Just like him to come mess shit up. I'd carefully crafted a whole little campaign to undermine him to the Senior Partners and to catapult myself into the Circle of the Black Thorn. And none of it would work on Angelus. Without the soul, all the careful psychological and soul-corrupting plots I'd made wouldn't work. And he was actually fooling the humans. Of course Spike acting as his pet bitch probably helped a lot with that. Though how Lorne hadn't sensed it, I don't know. 

Hmm, Lorne. That showed promise. If he hadn't sensed it, he could. Just had to figure out how to get him in action...hmm. When the solution bloomed across my brain, I had to smile. This was going to be beautiful. Of course Eve was probably going to want to kill me when she found out what the payment was, but hey, can't make pecan pie without busting a few nuts. I'd have to risk a little trip out but the tattoos should protect me, and this was worth the gamble. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Quite honestly I could not be more pleased with the way things had proceeded since I was freed from Soulboy. Ka'Dath was very satisfyingly dead. The humans remained blissfully unaware of the, shall we say, change in management. And Spike was moving a little bit closer each day to where I wanted him. 

I could feel his resistance slipping, little by little. Deep down, he wanted to be mine, he just had to let go of all the little doubts he had about me. This was much harder, really, than anything I'd ever done. I can focus for ages on a plan to cause ruin, like driving Dru mad, but I was trying to fix something broken here. I wanted my boy. I wanted him to gaze on me like a god, like I invented his world. I'd watch Soulboy dancing around pretending not to want him and I didn't want to be that stupid. 

Right now I had him on the floor, leaning against my leg, purring and half-asleep as I stroked his hair. We'd had a wicked and lovely little encounter on my desk not long ago, with him bowed backward on it while I sucked him dry several times. I had to admit, I'd never realized how much fun it was, the whole giving oral sex thing. I could watch his pleasure while I was in complete control of my own senses. Playing with his release like this was more effective in breaking his resistance down than any torment I could have devised. At any rate he was boneless and worn out at the moment and he'd knelt where he had of his own accord. 

I hadn't stopped being my evil terrible self. And I didn't think Spike would believe me for one moment if I tried to claim that. But as long as I 'behaved', his head would get further and further out of the way of what his heart wanted. And once it did, and he was mine again...

My lovely little reverie was broken by the intercom. "Hey boss, ummm, Lorne and Fred and Wes and Gunn are here and they want to talk to you." 

The announcement made Spike jerk back to full wakefulness, and he looked up questioningly. I jerked my head towards his chair, and he gave a grumpy noise in his throat as he crawled over and up into the chair. "Send them in," I replied to Harmony once Spike was settled. 

The four of them trooped in and I could smell trouble. Apprehension and fear radiated off them all in waves. Gunn looked ready for a fight, Wes looked hollow-eyed and haunted, Fred was fidgety and fluttery, and Lorne looked sheepish and embarrassed. Spike's expression went from petulant to confused, and he sat up straight in the chair as opposed to his usual draped posture. 

I steepled my fingers and looked at them impassively. "So someone going to tell me what this is about?" 

"Well, Angel," Wes began. "Lorne brought some information to our attention that he'd gotten from a reliable source. And it was disturbing enough that we really felt we ought to come speak to you about it directly. He was told that, well, not to put too fine a point on it..." Wes paused, swallowed hard, and then continued. "He was told you'd lost your soul and once again become Angelus." 

I had to smile at that, even as Spike stiffened and tensed. "Given that news I'm surprised you didn't all come in armed." That got a sheepish reaction from Wes and Gunn, and I chuckled. "Ah, you did." I looked over at Lorne. "So, you want to tell me your source?" 

Lorne fidgeted. "Angelcakes, you know normally I wouldn't have given it any weight at all, but it was the Furies. I don't know their source but they assured me they'd put that source under truth spell to check it. So even if whoever said this was wrong, they believed it." 

Wes chimed in. "It could always be someone who'd gotten hold of the wrong end of things, or a delusional. So, we decided to come lay this to rest. All you need to do is sing a bit for Lorne. That will put an end to it." 

In more ways than one, I thought. Spike was almost vibrating like a bowstring, he was so tensed. He probably had some idea of what he believed was going to happen, but as it turned out, he was wrong. I'd already considered this possibility. After all, Lorne was anagogic, he might have picked up on me even without me singing or outside help. I looked at him, catching his eyes, and shook my head slightly. He eased a bit and let out a long breath. 

I turned back to the others. "No need, I'll just confess. I'm Angelus." They were stunned enough that I didn't have to do anything drastic, and I was able to get out the next part. "But as Spike made a bargain to guarantee your safety, I'd appreciate it if we could discuss things intelligently instead of resorting to violence." 

That stunned them still more, and they looked at each other, silently conferring. Then Wes said, "Very well, we'll discuss this like adults then." 

I had to smile. He was so prone to revert to stiff Watcher formalism when things were uncertain. "Please, sit down. I won't ask you to surrender the weapons you have hidden. And you won't do anything insulting like insisting Spike sit elsewhere." I looked over at Spike. "Please let the children know you're fine, Spike, they likely think I've been torturing you nonstop." 

Despite the tension, or maybe because of it, that got an explosive laugh from Spike, and he grinned at them. "I'm fine. Really. And no, my soul's not gone, still in place," and he let burst singing a brief bit. "I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and every byway, and much more, much more than this, I did it my way!" 

Lorne blinked. The others looked at him. "Well?" Gunn asked. "Is Blondie over there okay?" 

Lorne shook himself. "Oh, sorry, yes. He's fine, he's telling the truth. Soul's in place, he's not been tortured." Lorne squirmed a little in his seat. "He's, ummm, happy." 

Wes raised an eyebrow at that and looked back. "Is this some sort of elaborate prank Angel? Some way to tell us you're getting married or something like that?" 

Now it was my turn to laugh. "It's Angelus, and no, no prank. The only question is, what do you intend to do about it?"

Fred interrupted whatever was Wes was about to say, as she looked at Spike and asked, "Is it true, Spike, are you really happy?" 

Spike gave her a smile. "You know better than to question Lorne's professional opinion. Yeah I am." 

"Happier than with Angel?" 

"Bit of a loaded question, Fred. But yeah, in a lot of ways, yeah." Spike looked over at me then back at Fred. "Not gonna do relationship therapy right here but Angelus and Angel are different in more ways than any of you know." 

Now that made me smile. It gave me a warm glow right where my heart should be. It was very nice to have a couple of kinds of confirmation that all my hard work hadn't gone to waste. 

Wes cleared his throat. "Well, given that, I think we can safely say violence is off the menu." Gunn looked dubious at that. "So have you undergone some sort of change, so that you're not evil anymore?" 

"Oh no, still quite shockingly evil," I said, waggling an eyebrow to emphasize my statement. "Just not stupid. I have my priorities straight." 

"By which you mean?" Wes asked. 

"I could have had you all dead inside an hour of my return if I wanted. But..." I looked steadily at Spike as I spoke now. "That's not what I wanted most. So I made a bargain. Tell them, Spike." 

"Essentially I agreed to be his again and keep quiet on the change and in return he'd keep up the pretense and wouldn't hurt any of you." 

"Spike!" Fred exclaimed. "You did that?" 

"I did." Spike said. 

"So what happens now?" Wes asked. "Duel at dawn? Or are there response teams headed here now to kill us? I'm assuming the Senior Partners had to have gotten wind of this all before this and approved of you running things." 

"Well you're right about the Senior Partners, Wes. But you guys don't have to die if you continue to do your jobs and be reasonable about not killing me or trying to shove a soul back in me. You're safe from me, I have my bargain with Spike. But if you start plotting to kill me, well, I can't be expected to just sit around while you do that." 

Spike nodded unhappily. "Couldn't hold you to it then," he admitted. 

"But you can't just expect us to ignore this massive evil!" Wes exclaimed. 

"I don't see why not. What else have you been doing since you've been here?" I asked. "You've nibbled around the ages but you've kept things by and large running as they always have. This is still an evil law firm doing massive amounts of evil and you're in the upper levels of management. Since I've gotten a good close look at what's going on, because I actually pay attention to things instead of trying to pretend I don't work here like _Angel_ did, I can tell you that this place does more evil on a yearly basis than I managed in all my years." 

"Well, then, we'll just quit," Fred said. "We'll just quit, and, ummm. walk away, and go back to being good guys." 

"I should just let you do that," I said. "And not point out the flaw in your plan, because then I'd be free of you without breaking my word. You leave, you're the problem of the Senior Partners. They'll either order you dead or order you captured and sent off to them. You signed _contracts_ , people. Not even being dead frees you from them." 

Gunn and Wes both nodded unhappily in agreement. "Those contracts are fiendishly binding," Gunn said. "I should know, I met the fiends who came up with the original wording." 

"So we're just stuck?" Fred asked. 

"Stuck or dead, your choice, yes." I let the words hang there in the air. "So, think it over, let me know. Meeting over, you're dismissed." 

They jerked at that, but they left, a very disgruntled-looking lot. 

Spike got up and walked over, hopping up on the desk in front of me. He put hands on my shoulders and leaned over. "Thanks Sire. Thanks for keeping your word." 

"You've kept yours," I said. "Apparently you're even liking it a bit." I smirked. 

Spike chuckled, and ducked his head a little bashfully. "Well, yeah. A bit. Maybe more than a bit." 

"Glad to hear it." I clicked the intercom. "Harm, cancel my appointments for the day." 

"Yes, boss." 

I wrapped my arms around Spike and stood up. He quickly wrapped his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck as I carried him towards the elevator. An encounter that satisfyingly resolved in my favor deserved a celebration, and Spike was going to be my present. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Well, I was right, Eve wasn't happy. As soon as she came home she started throwing things. "Lindsey, you whored your ass out to the Transuding Furies and it didn't even work!" She screeched. 

"Eve, baby, it was the only thing I could think..." I paused, shocked enough that she caught me square in the stomach with her purse and I oofed out my breath. 

"Thinking isn't what you were doing with that trio of supernatural sluts!" She crossed the room and shoved me back onto the bed, and started slapping at me. I caught her hands and rolled her over, pinning her and refusing to let her push me off. 

"It didn't work? What do you mean it didn't work?" 

"I mean Spike and Angelus are cozy as ever and his pet humans have gotten very drunk and despondent but no one tried to kill anyone and it seems like they probably aren't going to." 

"Shit!" I had to grudgingly admire however Angelus pulled that off. "He's going to be harder to take out than I thought."


	17. Visitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: references to m/m sex   
> SUMMARY: Andrew shows up to help with a damaged Slayer. Seventeen in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse #374 - Before the War.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x11 - "Damage"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS, CHARACTERS, ARCHIVE WARNINGS AND TAGS ABOVE- All other content except the Archive Warnings are listed in the chapter summary sections. I prefer this to massive tag lists at the beginning, but I am using the archive warnings for the big nasty events I know will be happening at some point. Also I hate to deceive someone with pairings that are at best a momentary mention in a chapter or a rape that is also just one chapter of a multi-chapter fic. I'll only list the main (or major if there are multiple) pairing and the main focus characters of the fic in the main header, individual chapters will list any additional pairing info for the chapter.

Things were going along well enough, I supposed. Angelus was happy, and when he was happy things were good for yours truly. More great sex, more courting. I was losing the will to oppose him. 

Wes and Fred still seemed happy with each other. Lorne had all but disappeared unless Angelus specifically summoned him. And Charlie boy had requested and gotten granted still more legal knowledge and he was doing 'good' work for the corporate machine. 

I still hadn't talked privately with anyone because he didn't let me out of sight. In fact, outside his office or penthouse I was often quite literally on a leash. Usually instead of a collar I wore a locked belt and the leash attached to it. And god help me I got a perverse thrill from it. 

But today there was something at the morning meeting. "It seems," said Wes, "that the possible case of demon possession I brought up last week, the one we decided was too small to bother with, is a deranged Slayer. I have been reliably informed as such by Giles who says he is sending his best man to take care of it." 

Angelus raised an eyebrow and say up straight. "Deranged Slayer? Wes, get me all the information you can on this. Don't want Giles messing about in our business." 

Wesley nodded and his expression failed to hide the apprehension and horror. Was Angelus going to use a deranged Slayer to get his first Slayer kill, I'm sure he was thinking. Poor Wes. Angelus wasn't finished yet though. "Oh, Knox will have to be replaced. I had to torture him and he isn't precisely a healthy person. He intended to send the pollen, so he was counting on bringing me back. Seems he had the bright idea of using Fred as the host body for an Elder God-Demon. He thought I'd be easier to get around." He looked at Fred, and I was the only one who knew precisely _why_ this performance was only just a performance. "You may think I'm evil but I still won't let anyone hurt you, Fred." 

It was as if a bomb had gone off in the room. And I could sense despite themselves that they all approved of what Angelus had done. They all looked to me for confirmation. "Yeah, lads, I was there. Helped a bit, in spots. Knox made Angelus come back, but on the bright side if he hadn't you'd all likely be dead and me a slave of tentacle-boy." That got a chuckle and eased the tension. 

Just then there was a bit of a commotion and the door burst open. "I tried to stop him boss but he's quick. Keeps babbling about being an official representative of the Watcher's council." I only barely registered Harmony's words as I got to my feet and Andrew barreled into the room. 

Ok, now the little thing that Angel, and therefore Angelus didn't know about this situation was that I'd popped Andrew's cherry. Before the war, end of the world sex, you know, and he really was very sweet when he'd shut his yob for two seconds. Which was much easier when he had a mouthful of cock or was bound and gagged. But it meant Andrew was likely about to make a very embarrassing scene. 

"Spike?" Andrew said, looking over at me, obviously abandoning whatever speech he had in mind. "Spike?!" He ran at me, and his hands ran over my shoulders. He looked up at me in rapt adoration. "It's you! It's really you!" He hugged me then, actually sobbing. I can only imagine Angelus was either too stunned to react immediately or too amused or both. "My therapist thought I was holding onto false hope, but... I knew you'd come back." He was sniffling and pulled back enough to look in my eyes. The poor thing. He really had it bad for me and I hadn't the heart to push him away, it'd be like kicking a puppy. "You're like... you're like Gandalf the White, resurrected from the pit of the Balrog," he said, touching his hands to my face gently. "More beautiful than ever." 

Before anything more could be said or done, Angelus finally reacted, pushing him back with a snarl. "Hands off, junior. Mine." Which I thought showed remarkable restraint. I was expecting bloodshed. 

But I was right, the expression on Andrew's face could only be described as kicked puppy. He looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. "Ah, well," he said, clearing his throat. "Then I'll come to why I was sent here." 

He began his little spiel, and about an hour later we really did have considerably more information on Slayers than before. Though it would probably have really distressed Andrew to know he was giving all that information to Angelus. 

At the end of it, Angelus dragged me off, up to the penthouse. He had me stripped and bound face down on the bed in short order. "How do you know this little pipsqueak baby Watcher?" He asked, growling. "Why did he put his hands on you?" 

"Cos I shagged him a few times back in Sunnydale, before I fried. His first sex ever, so he worships me." 

Angelus growled and scented over me. "All right. Doesn't mean I'm not going to give you a good turn over my knee and fuck you into the bed after." 

"Ummm, Sire, at the risk of being impertinent, shouldn't we be going after that Slayer?" 

"No need. It's why we sat through that dog and pony show. I had my best response teams run her down and tranquilize the crap out of her. She's in secure cells deep underground now. We'll look in on her later. But for now, your spanking, I think..." 

The next few days he kept me in the penthouse, fucking me senseless repeatedly. The second day the blood picked up a distinctive new taste. Slayer. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Angelus, and my expression must have been particularly eloquent because he chuckled. 

"She's not dead. This is merely a bit of extra I have them take when they're pulling blood for tests. I've ordered the best of care for her. Much better than at that wretched hospital. Shamans, healers, psychics, whatever she needs to help put that shattered noggin back together. Not out of altruism, I'm hoping we'll have our very own company Slayer when we're done. But in the meantime we get the dietary benefits. Regular helpings of this should boost us powerwise against other vamps and demons." 

Finally a few days later we were back down in the office, and things relatively back to normal. So when the news came in that Andrew's plane (private plane owned by the Watcher's Council) had gone down with no survivors, I apparently looked at him again. 

He looked back at me steadily. "Spike, your lack of faith in me lately is disturbing. I wouldn't kill someone for you shagging them before we came back together. And I know for a fact you and he didn't while he was here because I kept you rather busy." 

I had to blush at that and nod. "Sorry, Sire. But you are, one must concede, both evil and possessive as hell." 

Angelus laughed. "I am at that." 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

I'd waited til I could catch him alone without Slayerette hanger-ons. I caught him at dinner, and sat down across from him. I basically drowned him in words so he couldn't get out more than quickly stammered attempts to interrupt me. 

"I'm Lindsey McDonald. That name won't mean anything to you but I used to be a lawyer with Wolfram and Hart. Faith would know me. She won't like me but she can verify I am who I say I am. I have to talk quickly and move so we don't risk detection. Angel isn't Angel anymore, he's Angelus. There's any number of ways to verify this in person with spells and such. Please let Giles know, or Buffy. In person, not on the phones from here, as I've no doubt he's monitoring your calls while you're in town. Take care, Watcher." 

And then of course his plane goes down. Fucker.


	18. Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: nothing really ; NOTE: new POV in second section but quickly evident from context who it is.   
> SUMMARY: Time to talk to Lindsey. Eighteen in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse #375 - Blessing.   
> Distribution: Various lists, Ao3, My livejournal - http://salustra.livejournal.com/ ; and the website Weird Romances- http://www.freewebs.com/salustra/wr/index.html . No posting elsewhere without express permission please.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x11 - "Damage"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

It was really not until today I fully appreciated the usefulness of pettiness and pique. I was annoyed at Andrew for having slept with my boy, for having the gall to be that familiar with him, for being Rupert's pet Watcher. So I set a team on him. I hadn't planned to beforehand. It was pure spite. And apparently the infernal powers are watching over me because we found out about this little bombshell of information he was given. The team is coming in to report, I told them nothing filed, nothing electronic til they speak to me in person. And then I had to do the little thing I've been doing when I need to conduct business without Spike present, so to speak. I drug his blood. Not hard to do as I feed it to him. 

After he was out I had the team come in. They've learned not to comment on or notice Spike. Well-trained bunch, they'd make good minions. I've told some of them so and they don't normally seem to accept this as a compliment. "So who told him? Let me see the video." 

"Well, sir...ummm....the other person doesn't show up on video. We couldn't even hear him on our remote listening devices. If we hadn't had someone close enough to actually hear and see, well..."

So I sat back and listened to the report, and asked some sharp questions. Finally I growled a little. "Excellent job, team. You're all in for bonuses and paid vacation, immediately. However, tonight did not happen. No reports of any sort are to be filed anywhere. If questioned by someone of higher authority than myself, which pretty much means the Senior Partners, you can tell them what I ordered you to do. They'll come after me. But if you disobey I'll go to work on you slow, I can take a full year to kill someone. And I haven't even tried it in the modern age, so many more new ways to torture. Got me?" 

A chorus of 'Yes Sirs!" and enthusiastic nods came from the team. "Now take off, enjoy your vacations." 

After they left I stroked the hair of my unconscious boy. He'd wake soon. Damn that wretched little worm Lindsey. If Spike ever found out I killed little Watcher boy he'd be upset and I'd have to make sure Lindsey was available to feel his pain. Spike and I had some good old-fashioned tracking to do tonight. It should be fun. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Lindsey? Lindsey motha-fucking-McDonald is back with some kind of weird protective tattoo shit?" This was Gunn cursing. My, he must be upset, I had not heard him use language like this in a long time. 

"So it would seem, Charles," I said. "And the symbols as described sound Enochian. Quite clever. The question is what we should do about it now that he is here." 

Angelus' eyes fixed on me. They glittered and I could not be quite sure if he was interested or mistrustful. "Spike and I are tracking him down. If you want to come along, Wes, there's always room in the van." Odd, his voice didn't sound upset. It was almost ...salacious. Could he be suggesting? No, no possibly. 

I furrowed my brow in apparent concentration. "If he's used magic to conceal himself he might have facility with it for other purposes. Perhaps it's best I come along." 

"Well if you're coming I'm coming," Fred said. 

I was about to object when Angelus, oddly enough, intervened. "Fred, I'm going to need you ready with medical, he'll need to be checked immediately when we get him back to make sure he's clean medically and not bringing in any other little surprises." Fred nodded crisply to this and smiled, and Angelus looked over at Spike. Interesting. I filed that fact away to ponder on later. 

"Well you _know_ I'm coming, English," Gunn said. 

I had to chuckle. "Well of course, Charles. Given your regard for Lindsey it's only natural." This earned me a laugh in return. We all had to be careful. We'd spoken, briefly and in hushed tones in the few surveillance-dead zones of the Wolfram and Hart building, about this. Spike had laid himself down to keep us safe, we weren't going to endanger him unless no choice was left to us. 

And thus far, for an evil mastermind, Angelus was proving irritatingly well-behaved. Nothing to break his hold on Spike. Worse. Lorne had more or less declared himself a neutral in this and refused to even attend meetings without 'the Big Guy's ' direct orders. 

I blamed myself to some degree. I had tunnel vision where Angel was concerned and his initial reaction to Spike colored mine. I'd kept him at arm's length for entirely too long. Fred and Lorne had both been right about him, he was both trustworthy and loyal to a fault. Little wonder he took what affection he could, even from Angelus. I personally decided I owed it to him to try to figure out his escape. He shouldn't have to shoulder this burden alone. If there had been any blessing in all this, we'd all taken the measure of the others and learned who each of us truly was inside. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

We were out on the hunt. Pity Spike had never met Lindsey, so I was the only one with the scent. But I could scent him. He'd been out recently enough. He at least would be useful when we found Lindsey. I was not so sure about the others. But they were in the van, and we were on the streets. I'd tracked Darla across the city by scent before, so I was confident I could find the little snake. 

Spike slid in behind me and behind my left shoulder, to be out of the way for unlimbering my sword. The changes happened subtly as we moved, but he reverted into much older ways. Our steps and glances synchronized. My awareness of him increased so I didn't even have to look at him to know if he looked at me or gestured for my attention. Then there was a click and I could feel his senses feed into mine and everything was sharper. 

There! I had him. We were hot on the scent and the van was hard-pressed to keep up with us. We weren't burning, weren't pulling an all-out run, but we were moving faster than we generally let humans see us run. In no time at all we were at a small unassuming house, and Spike tapped my shoulder, and whispered, "Eve." 

I nodded. The little harlot had her scent everywhere here. The place reeked to a vampire's senses of sweat, pizza, and sex. We decided on the direct approach. Silent count, 1,2,3, and inside. A sleeping Lindsey roused up out of sleep but I was already on him and Spike was gagging him and slapping on shackles. We dragged him out and shoved him in the van. He had a lot to answer for.


	19. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus  
> CONTENT: mentions of torture (non-graphic); contemplation of non-con (non-graphic).   
> SUMMARY: Lindsey gives it up. Nineteen in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse #376 - Retribution.   
> Distribution: Various lists, Ao3, My livejournal - http://salustra.livejournal.com/ ; and the website Weird Romances- http://www.freewebs.com/salustra/wr/index.html . No posting elsewhere without express permission please.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

I had to admit, he made a pretty subject for interrogation. And any little pain he happened to suffer was only just retribution for what he'd almost made happen. He was strapped up into a framework. I could easily reach anyplace on him for whatever I chose, and I could spin and bend the framework into whatever configuration I wanted. The tattoos made an interesting visual map on his skin. I'd already had photos of them taken and sent to   
Wes to work on. He and Gunn were tearing apart the apartment with the forensic teams. They liked doing 'good' work and it served me, so I let them. 

Meanwhile I waited here to do evil work with Spike standing nearby watching it all with glittering eyes. He looked interested but not overly eager. Well I could address that later. The frame had wards in it to prevent sorcery. I knew from his Wolfram and Hart days he'd had at least minor prowess with it and now I was guessing he was an adept. 

He was naked, of course, no need for modesty in here. Nicely toned. Wherever he'd been he'd been busy. I trailed a hand up his inner thigh and was rewarded with his almost immediate erection. I had to chuckle. "Still wanting me badly, aren't you?" I crooned softly in his ear. "Or rather 'him'. If you actually get my cock up your tight little ass, lawyer boy, then you can decide if all this fuss was worth it." 

"Fuck you, Angelus," Lindsey said. 

"Mmmm, now, no need to be nasty." I smacked his ass with my open palm, hard, several smacks, watching it redden. Purely for my own amusement and to predictably watch his arousal spiral. "If you're a good boy and tell me what I need to know perhaps I will fuck you." 

"And if I don't, you're what, going to torture me with sexual innuendo and spankings?" 

I reached over and picked up a scalpel from a nearby table. "I think if we carved off a few of those tattoos the Senior Partners might have a few things to say. I'm betting they have even more effective methods of torture than I do." I slid the scalpel along his skin and pushed it hard enough to cut a thin line just through the upper layers of skin, and the blood trickled out in bright drops. I leaned in to lap at the blood. Power there, I could taste it. 

He hissed. "Okay, okay, I forgot how much you like the torture thing. Angel couldn't quite do it most of the time." He took a deep breath. "What do you want to know?" 

I gave him my best patented cruel smile. "Too easy. I'm thinking perhaps I should gag you and torture you a few hours first, just to be certain." I moved over to the table and looked over the gags there. 

"Angelus! C'mon, fuck, no! I'll tell you, straight up. I've seen people on this damn rack with torturers less enthusiastic than you and I'm not really eager for the experience. Ask away." 

I noticed Spike had become considerably more intrigued by the tiny little Texan. Hmmm. I'd need to explore that later. I was not fond of sharing just to share, but the idea of these two writhing together to entertain me was definitely appealing. 

So I questioned him. Very, very thoroughly. No notes, no need for them. Between myself and Spike not a word would be forgotten. When his enthusiasm seemed to flag I'd go to the table and a brief application of whatever struck my fancy reminded him why he was to answer promptly and in full. Hours passed. When I'd gotten as much as I thought would be useful, at least to start, I gave him a small injection of a tranquilizer and bundled him, rack and all, off to the penthouse. He was going to be a guest in my secret room, at least for a while. 

Most of what he had to share was very, very useful. This whole organization of evil, the Black Thorn for instance. I'd never been the 'joiner' type so I'd never known. I still wasn't the joiner type. I was beginning to get the inklings of a grand idea in my head. Not an apocalypse but perhaps a way to prevent it and rip all these pretentious assholes, Senior Partners included, a new one. 

**I** was the ultimate evil and before I finished both sides would know it. If I managed to pull this off I'd somehow do good by doing evil, and evil by doing good, and it would be so damn sweet. I'd still be able to keep Spike, I'd be free of this fucking corporate trap, and the world would be open and free again. I didn't bow to the Beast, I wasn't going to bow and scrape to the Senior Partners or to any fucking circle of evil pathetic jerks playing would-be demon mafia bosses. At least not any longer than it took to fool them, to get my plan into place. 

I had some serious thinking to do. And so, I left a message for Eve to come see me. We had some things to clear up.


	20. Consent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Angelus; discussion of Spike/Lindsey   
> CONTENT: rough sex (Angelus/Spike); bloodplay; mentions of torture (non-graphic); discussion of and lead up to non-con(Spike/Lindsey). The act itself, including foreplay for it, will all take place in the next chapter so those who do not want to read the subject matter can easily skip it.   
> SUMMARY: Spike contemplates what he thinks Angelus will want him to do to Lindsey. Twenty in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse #377 - Bleak.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

So this was Lindsey. I'd heard lots about him, mostly from Wes between bouts of kissing. Mmm now that was a pleasant block of memories, kissing Wes. He was a really good kisser and he smelled good. Like tweed and scotch and the fascinating faint scent of leather. 

I _knew_ what Angelus had in mind for later, assuming Lindsey was smart and survived this encounter relatively intact. I knew it as soon as he touched Lindsey's thigh and then looked at me, then back at Lindsey's obvious arousal. He was going to either ask or tell me to fuck him. A test, in his mind. 

Of course he didn't understand me, didn't understand the comfortable union my demon and my soul had forged. I could do evil things if I chose without dying, I just had to suffer the consequences and what pangs my conscience would come up with for me. Only my conscience had the morality of a fanciful Victorian poet, and an imagination can excuse a lot. And I could do one thing bad and it would not necessarily mean anything about my future actions or about anything else. 

I couldn't help feeling obnoxiously superior to Angel sometimes. He'd been like a dry drunk, fighting the impulses Angelus whispered in his ear every day, and if he gave in to one he could be off the wagon into the bleak darkness even if Angelus stayed caged. Maybe if he'd tried to make peace with Angelus, tried to reach some sort of understanding, he wouldn't be gone now. It was petty and dreadful to think this, and feel this, but I did. Denying I felt it would just send me to the same crazytown again. Honesty was where you had to live as a souled demon if you wanted to stay whole and sane. 

And honesty compelled me, listening to Lindsey spill forth the plans he had for me, for Fred, for the others, that Lindsey was an evil fuck prepared to hurt us for kicks and to gain power. Every inch as rotten as Angelus at his very worst and he was born with a soul and all. Angelus wasn't tearing him apart. I was betting he intended to keep him, maybe turn him. To Angelus, he was a bag of interesting knowledge and talent, not to be wasted. So I wouldn't scruple at doing something to him considerably less awful than he'd had planned for all of us. 

Only Angelus wouldn't know the considerations, the calculations. He wouldn't know soul and demon agreed on this. He'd think he'd won. Which was fine too. Let him think it. It was the first advantage I'd had on him so far. 

Walking back to the suite after the torture, I could tell he was powerfully aroused. He yanked the belt-leash to keep me next to him, his hand cupping my ass. In the elevator he stopped it partway, shoving me hard against the wall. I gasped and then his hand was gripping my hair and his mouth dominating mine, kissing me almost brutally. He ripped away my jeans in several hard tugs, and then his other hand had me, stroking and pulling my cock, working me to an almost indecently quick climax. I whimpered and moaned at the tugs, my own hands sliding down to undo his trousers and free his cock. 

As I came he folded his hand over my cock-head, catching a good deal of my spend there. I had a notion of his intent, and I was right. He turned me hard to face the wall with the hand in my hair and shoved most of the come into me, using the rest on his cock. It was going to be a hard and dirty one then, no prep, no decent lube. But after watching Lindsey's torture, my demon was almost indecently eager for some pain with the pleasure. 

He cleaved me open, it felt like, with his massive cock. I howled with the pain of it but my cock was already hardening again. He shoved all the way in, and held a moment, growling his own satisfaction, and using his fist in my hair to arch me back towards him. "Mine, brat, my property. Say it." 

"Yours," I gasped out. "Your property." Fuck, it gave me such a deep twisted sense of being loved, of being needed when he was like this with me. I yowled softly, slipping into the soft, feline noises our demons used. I rolled my hips a little, urging him to take me. 

He chuckled softly. "So hungry for it." He slammed in hard and began a punishing pace. I was impaled again and again, pushed up on my toes each time, yanked back against him by my hair. Pleasure and pain shot through me, and I was soon hard again, my length slapping my belly with each thrust. 

He didn't try to hold back, didn't draw out the act. He rammed into me and howled his pleasure so it rang off the metallic walls of the elevator. He eyed my own newly-hard-again cock with amusement and pressed thumb and forefinger on it right under the head, forestalling for a while any attempts at climax for me. "You'll need that soon." 

Ah, so it was gonna be now. He let me clean up quickly but then off to the 'playroom' we went. He was still dressed, but he had simply wrapped one of his oversized shirts on me and pulled me along. Not precisely like I've ever been all that modest. 

Inside was still-naked Lindsey in the rack. He looked up at us as we came in. He wasn't that damaged, not really. Not enough to have stopped him from being hard on and off through the interrogation earlier. "Ah, Creepy and Creepy Junior. Come to have another go at me?" 

"Not in the way you think. But you need a bit of medicine first." Angelus walked over and picked up a knife from a tray, cutting a shallow cut on his palm. Lindsey shook his head and Angelus just chuckled. He grabbed Lindsey's head and pulled it painfully back, getting a reflexive gasp long enough to allow blood to be poured into his mouth. He kept his hand in there, taking the bite Lindsey administered, which didn't last long as Angelus' hand tightened in his hair. He moved fingers to pinch Lindsey's nose closed and he began to swallow, he had no choice. After a few swallows by Lindsey, Angelus pulled his hands clear and let him breathe. 

It was a bit impressive, really. Our recent diet of human blood enhanced with Slayer's blood had bumped up the effectiveness. Wounds and bruises disappeared within a few seconds. Even Lindsey's expression showed his obvious surprise. "Been eating your Wheaties, have you?" 

"Mmm maybe you'll find out eventually. But now I'm wanting a bit of entertainment. Spike, fuck our guest here. Don't want to be rude and leave him in such a state but right now I'm not feeling generous with my cock. Rather keep it for your tight ass." 

I was expecting it and moved in closer. "If you think he's worth it. I'm really good." 

(continued in next chapter, which can be skipped by anyone upset by the subject matter)


	21. Rape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Lindsey; discussion of Angelus/Lindsey   
> CONTENT: The act itself, including foreplay for it, will all take place in the this chapter so those who do not want to read the subject matter can easily skip it. non-con ( consent obtained via vampire powers).   
> SUMMARY: Spike uses his powers to take Lindsey. Twenty-one in the Victory Verse. Done for tamingthemuse #378 - Loop.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, promo time. There's voting at White Knight Awards and Sunny D. I've got Whitechapel in Unfinished Fic at White Knights; and Whitechapel and Victory Verse in multiple categories at Sunny D. Please vote! If you'd like me to win vote for Whitechapel, as that way mine and 's readers will add up together.
> 
> Also is up for many categories at White Knight, mostly for Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know which is a HOT spander epic. 
> 
> White Knight Awards (password phrase is demon magnet)- http://wka.moments-lost.org/vote.php
> 
> Sunny D Awards- http://sunnydawards.dragonydreams.com/vote.html

"Been a busy boy, have you my pretty brat?" Angelus' voice was dangerously languid.

"Only shagging other boys while Daddy was away." I walked around behind Lindsey and stroked his back gently, feeling the tense play of muscles. "Pretty boys like this." I leaned in, using the lust already built in me to trigger my Seducer powers. A wave of pheromones released, and I could feel Lindsey's muscles relax marginally even as his breath hitched. 

Angelus' mouth quirked into a smile. "Very pretty." He stretched himself onto the bed and propped his head on a crooked arm. "Go ahead then, boy, show Daddy what you've learned." 

I whispered in his ear, even as I continued my caresses. I was exploring his body, avoiding only his groin and the area around his nipples. He was getting more and more aroused even though he clearly tried to resist. 

"You're lucky he picked me to fuck you, Lawyer-boy. Can you imagine being torn open by that giant cock of his?" By this time Angelus had shifted position and was stroking his cock while watching us. "He's in no gentle mood, Lindsey, he'd impale you with the barest of preliminaries." Lindsey whimpered and swallowed, then summoned a half-defiant snarl. God, he was so eager for Angelus' cock. 

"Shall I tell you how he just fucked me?" I leaned in closer and whispered the dirty details, and my fingers toyed with his nipples as I did. He moaned and writhed and his cock was now weeping small pearls of pre-cum. 

My Seducer aura had done its work, distracting his mind from anything but pleasure and lust. He was ready for me now. I grabbed a tube of lube from the little tray nearby and slicked two fingers, sinking them into him. Now that he was good to go I had little intention of being gentle. Lindsey groaned and his cock came to attention, slapping his belly. 

"So eager, Lindsey," I whispered, sweet as any lover. Angelus' expression showed his own lust. He was enjoying the show. "I'm going to make it so good for you." I added a third slicked finger without warning and he moaned and gasped and I could smell the waves of need coming from him. "Poor boy, been so long without a proper seeing-to, I can tell." 

My other hand had already moved down to slick my own cock with the lube. I used just the barest brush of fingertips on Lindsey's cock to make him whine and start to beg wordlessly with need. "Almost there, sweet boy. Just say the magic word, or I can tease you all day and all night and never let you cum." 

Lindsey's eyes widened. He whimpered a bit more before gasping out, "Please." 

"That's the word." I pulled my fingers away and pushed in hard and fast, but angled to hit his prostate. It was a loop, plunge three times, hit the spot, plunge three times, etc. He didn't last long before he came, brokenly gasping and grunting his pleasure as I kept moving to my own completion, a few moments later. 

Angelus had orgasmed himself a few minutes before, and he was cleaned and put away. He stepped up, grinning. "Good work, boy. You raped him here," and he thunked a finger on Lindsey's forehead. "And made him beg. Very pretty. Better than he deserved but I only told you to fuck him, not abuse him." He grabbed Lindsey's hair. "You do understand next time it will be me, and not gentle at all, Lindsey." I could taste both Lindsey's fear and his lust at the same time. Angelus just chuckled and let Lindsey's hair go. 

"Let's go clean him up and tuck him away for bed, as in chained down and gagged and whatever else occurs to me beforehand," Angelus said, pulling Lindsey's manacles away from the frame and lowering him to the ground. 

I had the distinct feeling this wasn't the last command performance I'd be asked for. And a sudden glance from Lindsey told me he wouldn't be at all unwilling the next time.


	22. Plotting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Lindsey; Angelus/Spike  
> CONTENT: m/m sex; bondage; enforced chastity  
> SUMMARY: Wake-up fun with Spike and Angelus; and Spike and Lindsey spend the day together. Twenty-two in the Victory Verse. 
> 
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-  
>  **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. ) 
> 
> Previous Parts- [ Victory Verse Masterlist ](http://salustra.livejournal.com/117094.html) ; and [ Victory Verse at Ao3 ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/896105).

worksafe banner beneath the cut (bare male chests only) -

So _that _happened. Honestly the worst part was having to vocalize my desires. Getting royally fucked was part of the Wolfram and Hart way. My last promotion party, hell, I'd been tied over a sawhorse and everyone in my division got a piece of me one way or another. And there'd been no gentle and sexy seduction, just raw forced fucking. No, Spike gave me a break, his soul was showing. He did that as gently as he could and still satisfy the needs of that monster Angelus.__

__And there'd been a look between us. He was trying to tell me something. I thought he wanted to do something about Angelus. So if I got the chance...I'd try to talk to him._ _

__I was tied to the bed rather stringently and creatively with silk rope, spelled of course. I'd no idea Angelus had studied shibari. I had to admit my reflection in the mirror above was rather attractive. Red looked good with my skin. The silk handkerchiefs stuffed into my mouth and then tied in place with a shibari knot gag were not at all comfortable though. Each wriggle pulled a knotted rope against my ass and pushed a little prostate stimulator. I was hard as steel, damn Angelus._ _

__Angelus. Fuck me, literally. He was going to use that monster cock on me sooner or later and I didn't know if I was more dreading it or wanting it. I'd had so many damned dreams about him, and nightmares as well. And to have seen it for real now, up close...I shuddered. I was pretty experienced, but no way that thing was fitting into me. Maybe some tantric magic...I set my mind pondering the matter. My awareness of the world around me and my body diminished as I focused all my resources on solving this rather urgent puzzle._ _

__~~~~_ _

__I awoke with a groan. Fuck if my little show with Lindsey hadn't turned Angelus on something fierce. I was sore, mostly pleasantly so, in many areas of my body this morning. I was also, as usual, pinned possessively against him. I squirmed and he pulled tighter. It also made him harden. I could feel that well as his shaft rested along the divide between my asscheeks. I stilled. Lord knows I didn't need another reaming this morning. My poor ass was worn out._ _

__I held still as he gripped me harder and stroked my belly. "Shhh, brat, got you. Too early to get up yet," Angelus mumbled sleepily. I relaxed myself deliberately and purred softly. I was a sucker for being stroked, and not just in a sexual manner. There was no escaping til he decided to let go, so I might as well enjoy what I could. Angelus nuzzled into my hair. "Good boy." His hand slid from my belly down to my cock and cupped it gently. I groaned as my cock responded automatically to his touch._ _

__His chest rumbled with a growling purr and he nipped my shoulder. He was awake now, at least somewhat, that much I could tell. "Mine," he growled out as his fingers curled around my cock,_ _

__"Yours," I hissed softly in response. I rocked my hips slightly, pushing into his fist. I was wanton for him, I couldn't help it. He'd trained me well all those years ago and his recent refreshing of that training had been very thorough._ _

__"My sweet little catamite," he murmured. "My beautiful boy." He kept stroking, making me whimper and mewl and groan for him. Deep, strong, incredibly ancient emotions stirred in me. Fuck, it was difficult to remember he was evil when he did things like this to me. I was quivering with need and ready to beg him for release._ _

__"That's my William, my boy," he whispered softly in my ear. I whined and made a gasping moan. "That's right, no more words right now, just noises, my sweet collared pet." He slipped two fingers under my collar and pulled me even more tightly against him, and made the collar press against my skin firmly. I mewled, and rubbed myself more urgently against his other hand. He pulled back, making me arch for him. "Good pet."_ _

__His strokes sped up, hand tight on my shaft, and my hips jerked back and forth. I was totally under his thrall right now, no thoughts but obeying that voice and reaching my own climax. He kept stroking, harder, faster. "You can come, pet, whenever you can." He was feeling unusually indulgent this morning, I could tell. No tormenting me. I didn't wait for him to change his mind. It took only a few more strokes of his big hand to bring me to a shuddering climax, my whole body arched and quivering. His grip on my collar eased and I settled back against him, shivering and satiated._ _

__He pulled the covers over us then, and wrapped his arms around me. I purred loudly and his own answering deep purr made our bodies slightly shiver against each other. He nipped my earlobe. "Now, more sleep," he mumbled._ _

__I had to chuckle. "More sleep, Sire." I drifted happily back to sleep._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__My little brat had woken me up early...again. I knew how to coax him back to sleep, of course, nothing easier, but I thought he needed a lesson. Besides, I was leaving him with Lindsey today and no way he was going to have too much freedom around that sweet little piece of Texan tail. Although I did have to admit I liked having a purring squirming post-coital Spike against me in the morning. He was by far the cuddliest sweetest bedmate I'd had. Darla hated to cuddle. Sometimes she kicked me out of the bed entirely once she was done with me. Which, of course, had meant sneaking off to wherever William was, sometimes just cuddling with he and Dru both, sometimes prying him away to have him for myself._ _

__So when we woke up, I gripped his wrists. "You going to be a good boy?" He nodded. "Mmmm, good." I flipped him on his belly and went to grab things from the cabinet._ _

__First to take care of those pesky arms. I bound them together with straps at the wrist, elbow, and upper arm, then worked a latex singleglove up onto them. I laced it as he made gratifying little grunts. He looked so lovely like that. I had to take a moment to admire my own handiwork and stroke over the singleglove._ _

__I slid on a belt he was familiar with, working it up under his belly. He whined in protest, eyes wide, but didn't dare object. I grinned at his expression and grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling his head back so I could kiss him. "You're so cute when you're desperate. I let you come this morning, don't act all deprived now." He settled down, though he did squirm quite a bit as I shoved the lubed anal plug into him._ _

__I rolled him onto his back. I gripped his cock and got it hard before working the chastity cage onto his cock and balls. A few clicks as the locks were applied and his ass and cock were locked just for me and unavailable to anyone else. I stroked his belly idly with my fingertips._ _

__"I'm actually leaving you in here this morning. I want you to watch Lindsey. I'm going over now to change him into new bondage. I'm in a latex mood today. Then I'm locking you two together. That should keep you busy. You can use the whole mutual prisoner thing to work some information out of him."_ _

__"Yes, sire," he said, with lowered eyes and a pretty flutter of lashes. Dear God he was hot when he was acting submissive. I considered for a moment taking off that belt and fucking him senseless, but really I had a lot of sensitive meetings to take care of today. Occasionally there were more important things to do than shagging my sweet pet and today was full of them. I had a little quasi-apocalypse to plan, and an evil law firm to destroy._ _

__So it was off to the playroom to work on Lindsey. I didn't want him able to move after but he did need to be able to talk, so I left him ungagged, but completely covered in latex and every limb bound helplessly, his body lying hogtied on the bed. I locked his collar and a chain to his ankle cuffs to rings at each end of the bed._ _

__Now to finish this off. I dragged Spike along, hogtied him, and locked him beside Lindsey, chains meshed together. They made a very pretty sight, Lindsey's latex-clad form and Spike's nearly naked one squirming and trying to get comfortable._ _

__"Have fun, boys. Daddy has a long day ahead. If you're really lucky, Lindsey, I'll remember to come feed you again and let you use the toilet." I chuckled and left the room to the lovely sound of desperate moans._ _

__~~~~_ _

__Damn Angelus and his ideas. Now I was helpless for the day and Lord knows what he was going to do without me. It could only be something that was bad news for someone, and hopefully not someone I cared about or some half-assed plan to unleash Hell again. But at least I was alone with Lindsey._ _

__As soon as enough time was passed that I was fairly sure Angelus was gone from the penthouse, I put my mouth next to Lindsey's ear. "You want to try to do something about Angelus? If so, nod."_ _

__Lindsey stiffened and stilled, his eyes looking warily into mine. Whatever he saw there must have reassured him because he nodded once._ _

__"Angelus expects me to try to get information out of you on the Senior Partners and on the Circle of Thorns. You give me a little, we can spend the rest of the time working on a plan. I'll start, by telling you what's gone on here." And so I spilled my tale of woe. All of it, everything I knew._ _

__Lindsey listened intently. Then he sighed and nodded. "Don't think you can get your Angel back. That soul was never his and we clocked it. Senior Partners gave very short odds that it would last til The Apocalypse if he kept atoning, that's why they tried so hard to corrupt him. It'd take a hell of a spell to recover his actual soul, this long gone. Maybe the Shaman in Africa could do it, but Angelus isn't going to undertake it willingly like you did. And since he's 'behaving' you don't want to kill him. Because you love him and he owns you. Have I got that much right?"_ _

__I let my head drop, my expression sheepish. "Yeah, just about."_ _

__"So you're fucked, I'm fucked, and your friends are fucked eventually when he decides he wants them and sets about seducing them. And whatever evil plan he has in mind will proceed uninterrupted."_ _

__His matter-of-fact tone braced me like cold water splashed on my face. "You're right. So what do we do?"_ _

__He chuckled. "Now you're talking. Cos once he fucks me I'm sure I'll be an owned little pet like you. We'd better plan now. We've got all day, and we're both intelligent, wicked, and sneaky. We'll come up with something."_ _

__I smiled weakly, It was the first positive thing I'd heard, and the first sliver of optimism I'd allowed myself. "Sounds good. So let's get to plotting."_ _


	23. Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TITLE: Victory Verse 23- Luck  
> RATING: NC-17  
> PAIRING: Spike/Lindsey(teasing); Angelus/Furies  
> CONTENT: m/m teasing; het sex(described in vague terms); foursome sex(non-explicit)  
> SUMMARY: Spike plots with Lindsey; Angelus visits the Furies. Twenty-three in the Victory Verse. 
> 
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

worksafe banner beneath the cut (bare male chests only) -

 

It wasn't bad, really, tied to Spike. I'd seen the files and they lied. It was the Seducer thing, I supposed, like Darla. It wasn't looks alone, it was something that oozed out of them, something that came with the tilt of the head and the quirk of a smile. Sex, walking sex. Damned if I wouldn't do him right now. It wasn't the dark twisted attraction I had to Angelus, or the desperate sort of love I'd had for Darla. He just drew me in, inspired pure pure lust.

So I could see, at least partly, why Angelus couldn't keep his mitts off him. He was made to tempt the devil and Angelus was about as close to the Devil as I'd ever seen in the files. Smart, too, I knew that from the files, and sorely underestimated on that score. Spike had uncovered at least three artifacts thought completely lost, all on his own. He was a survivor, too, strong enough for Angelus to see his value as more that just some sex pet. 

And he was lucky, something I really wasn't. My luck sucked. Angelus had foiled every one of my plans and here I was his prisoner. The only reason I had a chance in hell was that Angelus trusted Spike enough to leave him here with me. And he only trusted Spike on that score because Spike had raped me on command. He hoped to break me with it so I let myself look broken. Honestly it was not anything new for me, and mostly good once I'd decided resisting except in a token sense was futile. 

I wasn't going to waste this chance. Spike could be conning me, of course, but Angelus scarcely needed an excuse to torture me. I was betting his offer was honest. So I let down my guard and took him up on it and we plotted. I wasn't big on our chances, honestly, but they were better than our chances right now. Well, okay, to be honest, my chances. Spike could do anything and Angelus might torture him for a while but he'd survive. Me, I was a dead man if Angelus caught us. 

"So what do we do now?" I asked. 

"Now I'd better tease the fuck out of you," Spike said, with a wicked grin. 

"What?" I was thrown off by the non-sequitur. I mean, I knew Spike was a Seducer but honestly...

"Lindsey, if I don't have you worked up enough to be humping my leg by the time he gets here, he's going to think I'm up to something." He leaned in and twisted his head, managing to catch one of my nipples between blunt teeth through the latex and drawing a groan from me. 

"When you put it like that," I breathed out. "Yeah, I'm game." 

~~~~

I'd spent the morning doing some research. I wasn't as brilliant at it as Spike, but with the sources at my disposal I didn't need to be. I was going to have this war I'd devised, and I knew just how to get it now. Time to meet the lovely ladies I'd set a meeting with. It took a lot of changing methods of transport and two fae glamours to shake my surveillance team loose. Finally I arrived at the Hyperion. In the half-ruined lobby waited the Furies. 

"Hello, ladies," I said with a grin. 

"Ohhhhhhh Angelus," they all sighed in harmonious unison. I'd used them before, as had Soulboy. Their price wasn't a difficult one to pay and they got better value for it from a vampire like me. 

"Mmmm yes. Well first the business, ladies, then the pleasure. I need something very special this time. A messenger of Hermes."

They looked a bit distressed at that and whispered among themselves. Finally they spoke in unison again. "What do you mean to use it for?" 

"To set my enemies upon each other. To make them destroy each other without spilling my blood." 

They looked at each other and nodded. "For a special treasure a special price. Once for each feather in its wings." 

I laughed heartily. "Ladies, that's no hardship, but indeed an honor. And you well know how I'm uniquely equipped to satisfy your desires." 

They giggled and blushed prettily. "Pleasure first, then, Angelus. You'll have your messenger before you leave." 

And so it began. We found a room with a suitably large bed and soon I was lost in a tangle of legs and arms and warm soft bodies. With all three at me I don't think either my mouth or my cock got a moment's rest. At some point, though, the three of them arranged themselves around and on me and began singing. The spell, of course. They used the energy to cast the spell. But damned if it wasn't one of the prettiest sounds I'd ever heard. It rang in my bones. After it I passed out but when I awoke, the ladies were gone, and a tiny little androgynous gold person with wings stood on my chest.

"A real messenger." There was a note of awe in my voice I couldn't prevent. This was a tiny immortal creature and I had control of it. 

There was an honest-to-god tinkle like Tinkerbell in response, though I heard the words in my head. "What did you expect?" There was resignation and resentfulness in the words.

I was prepared. Messengers hated being bound and were notoriously apt to pervert the messages they had to deliver. But I had a way to get around that. "You don't like being bound. If I had another way, I'd use it. But I have a deal for you, messenger. Be faithful in delivering my messages, get me the war I desire, and I'll set you free after the battle." 

More tinkles. "And what can you swear upon, vampire, that's precious enough for me to believe you?" 

"Upon the blood of my Sire." 

"Your sire is dead, and you killed her at least once."

I had to consider. What was precious to me? "Upon the blood of my favored. William the Bloody, also called Spike."

The tiny creature regarded me. "Then so swear." 

"Upon the blood of my favored, if you serve faithfully, I will release you after the massive bloody battle to come." There was a ring in the air after my words and the creature nodded. 

"I will serve faithfully." 

"Then let's get started. There are many messages to carry and many guises for you to take." I rubbed my hands in anticipation. 

~~~~

I had serious doubts about the plan. It depended on too many variables, most notably me being able to beat Angelus is a fight without dusting him. Damn, it was going to be tough. But Lindsey had already started making good on his part of the plan, teaching me the enchantments and such that would raise my strength and toughen me considerably. It was an edge Angelus wouldn't know I'd have. Then somehow I had to get hold of the components of a spell without Angelus noticing. I was going to have to be a very good boy. Shit. 

And I was scared, honestly I was. Less about the plan than about what happened after. Would Angelus even want me after? Yeah, yeah, to anyone else it would sound insane, worrying about keeping the attentions of an evil vampire after plotting his overthrow. But I did. I wanted him, craved him. And maybe I was stupid to think he loved me but I thought he did. 

Right now I had to push all this down, hold it in a little compartment. I had to concentrate on driving Lindsey crazy before Angelus walked back in, and then on pleasing Angelus. I had to keep his trust, so I could betray him. Again. Damn I was going to need a lot of luck.


	24. Awaiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Lindsey(teasing); Angelus/Spike  
> CONTENT: m/m teasing; bloodplay  
> SUMMARY: Spike and Angelus share some special time; Angelus' plot advances Twenty-four in the Victory Verse. NOTE: New POV introduced this chapter, but the identity should be obvious from context. 
> 
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

worksafe banner beneath the cut (bare male chests only) -

I had Lindsey hard and begging by the time Angelus finally returned. He was furiously humping the bed as best he could in his hogtied state, trying to get enough friction on his latex-covered cock to bring him to orgasm. Angelus laughed loudly and then unlocked us from each other, pulling Lindsey away to hang him by his bound wrists, twisting uselessly with need. 

"My sweet little William can be quite the tease, can't he?" Angelus chuckled and stroked down Lindsey's body. "Nothing more for you today I think. Just let you sweat it out." He walked over and undid my bindings, and gripped my collar to pull me to my feet. "Got to take my boy off for some private time."

We headed off to bed, and amazingly not for sex. He pulled me in close to nuzzle and to have me feed on him. I wriggled in close and lapped and sucked at the open cut on his chest. I was so lost in the taste of him that I almost missed what I scented on his skin. Women. And I recognized the scents, having dipped into that well myself at least once. The Furies. What deal did he make with them?

I forgot myself for a moment long enough to pull back. Angelus scowled. "What is it boy?" 

I decided to be honest. "Furies." 

He tilted his head slightly and smiled. "Damn boy your senses are sharp. I practically scraped off three layers trying to clean away the scent."

I slid down his naked body and scented over his cock and balls. "Not enough here. They are all over you here." 

Angelus groaned as his cock hardened slightly. "Stop it boy, they wore me out today. I'm drained." He gripped a hand in my hair and pulled me back up to force me mouth onto the cut again. 

I licked and sucked like an obedient boy. "Sorry Sire." I could not quite keep the amusement from my voice and his grip tightened in my hair. 

"Not funny. Those bitches are serious about using a man up as much as they can and I've got quite a few more payments to go. So behave yourself and feed." There was a crinkling sound as his features shifted and his fangs sank into me. 

I lost myself then, lost myself as demon touched demon and we were suddenly, violently, linked together. He could do this anytime, force me here where his demon would always demand submission and mine would always submit. My own fangs dropped and pressed lightly through his skin, and the blood went from a trickle to a stream, and I drank greedily. Every drop bound me closer to him, eroded my will to oppose him. The hell of it was I would not stop now even if I could. I needed him, needed the taste of him in my mouth, his fangs in my neck. It wasn't just the pleasure, it was the warmth of demon to demon. It was being enfolded in pure desire and possession and another sensation that felt like love. Here for a few precious moments I had no doubts, and nothing bad could touch me. It was as close to Heaven, perhaps, as vampires ever come. 

It ended far too soon, with his tongue licking my wounds closed and his voice urging me to do the same. I was wrapped in his arms, and he nuzzled into my hair. His deep purr was answered by my own and he pulled a comforter over us. 

"My beautiful boy," he said softly, voice hoarse with emotion. 

I almost wanted to weep but held my tears. Dear god, he meant it. The words still meant 'I love you'. I answered back. "I am yours, Sire." 

~~~~

He was my prize, my reward for all this, my boy. I held him close and stroked him and buried my face in his hair. He was the only one to give me peace like this. Demon sated and drunk on his blood and on the contact with his demon, I had nothing pushing me, urging me to ever greater cruelty and perversion. I just wanted him close, his skin against mine. 

I knew my old nature would reassert itself and I'd enjoy what I did to him and he'd enjoy it too and then we'd find this point again. A point of delicious exhaustion, when only holding each other and purring our contentment would do. No one else could do this to me, only my boy. And I wouldn't let anyone or anything take him away again. I'd wade through rivers of Slayer blood and demon ichor if I had to, to keep him. 

And of course he'd never hear all this from me. Ever. 

~~~~

I didn't see him arrive. I was cleaning my glasses and put them back on and looked up, and there was my old enemy, the former head of the Watchers, looking remarkably diaphanous and ghostlike. I blinked. "The wards are apparently not up to snuff," I said. "Ghosts shouldn't be able to come in." It was a trivial thing to say when confronted by such a spirit but there it was. I'd been hoping for a quiet day with my books. I sighed. 

"I was killed here, you pretentious upstart rebel, I don't need to enter, I was already here. Just had nothing interesting enough to bother telling _you_ before. The Apocalypse is coming. _The_ Apocalypse." 

I snorted. "We've handled Apocalypses before." 

"Not like this one. This is the big one, either humanity or demons win. Forever. Every demon clan that despises humanity will be sending armies and sorcerers and fierce beasts. And the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart will commit their forces." 

I growled. "Angel. They have their pet vampire on their side and they think that will let them win." 

"Angel is still persuadable, if you want to change his path. Send someone with some sense, like yourself or that young red-headed witch." 

"Or I could just kill him." 

"Angel can be counted on to keep his oaths. With no vampire with a soul, there's no telling what would happen. Perhaps the side he last swore to would win." 

I sighed heavily. "A lovely choice you leave me. But I'll have to gather the Slayers. Do you know _where_ the Apocalypse will start?" 

"Los Angeles. There will be a mystical outflow of energy your witches can't help but see that will mark the battlefield as clearly as a lightning strike. You have only ten days to gather your forces." 

I hated having to thank this insufferable berk but I did. "Thank you. For all of this." 

He grumbled. "My duty." Then he faded away. 

~~~~

Spike had already gone to sleep when the messenger appeared, tinkling away telling me the success of all the messages. The parties concerned had all been looking for the chance to strike, to marshal their forces and seek glory. And now all I had to do was provide the mystical trigger. Easy enough, that little wimp Knox had given me the key to it all. The resurrection of a god.


	25. Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING: Spike/Lindsey(teasing); Angelus/Spike; Angelus/Furies   
> CONTENT: non-explicit mentions of m/m teasing, bloodplay, fellatio, and het sex.   
> SUMMARY: Spike and Lindsey continue to plot; Angelus' plot advances Twenty-five in the Victory Verse. NOTE: New POV introduced this chapter, but the identity should be obvious from context. 
> 
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

worksafe banner beneath the cut (bare male chests only) -

It had been a fairly uneventful few days. I was still learning sorcery from Lindsey and taking tidbits back to Angelus. Angelus had questions for me to get answers to, mostly personal stuff about various high-powered demons who were long-term clients of Wolfram and Hart. Lindsey gladly supplied me with the information because he couldn't see anything much aside from political advantage in trying to work his way into the Circle of Thorns that Angelus could possibly need it for. Angelus came home smelling of Furies and exhausted every day. 

It did begin to annoy me that I wasn't getting my usual attentions from Angelus. But he would wank me or suck me off, usually a special reserved treat, and then we'd feed from each other and collapse into a sated sleep. 

And I could tell _something_ was going on because it had now been days since I had seen the others for more than a few minutes, long enough to reassure me they were all okay and unmolested. Angelus was doing something and he was insufferably pleased about it. And to be honest, that worried me like nothing else. Even though I was grateful for the time it was giving me to advance my own plans. 

For example, I had been slipping in an extra order for Slayer blood every day. It wasn't enough extra to hurt the girl, but it was enough extra to keep boosting my strength. Angelus didn't notice. The Furies worked him so hard his senses were overloaded. He often came, groaning in both pain and pleasure, just from the touch of my body against his or the taste of my blood. 

I practiced the new sorcery I'd been learning so Lindsey could help me refine it. I didn't dare free him from whatever bindings Angelus put him in, because I needed Angelus' trust. After the first day he put only the belt on me, and left me free, as he said, "to drive that tiny little Texan mad". And every day before Angelus arrived I'd have Lindsey properly tormented. He put up with it with more grace than I'd probably manage. When the time came I'd have the ability to free Lindsey and use our combined sorcery to break the room lock and leave. 

But still I worried. It was a marginal plan at best and hindered by the fact that I probably couldn't bring myself to kill Angelus. I could fight him, sure, take him down, restrain him. But he was my Sire and I loved him and I couldn't just kill him the way he'd casually killed Darla. And I didn't think Angelus would kill me. He'd had chances and I'd certainly done enough to provoke him over time. Oh, within the past six years alone I'd betrayed him to the Slayer and bound and tortured him for the location of the Gem of Amarra. And he'd not done a thing to punish me for it, he never even mentioned it. 

I had to hope the spell Lindsey had been creating from nothing would work. I'd have felt better if I could have discussed the thing with Wesley but there probably wouldn't be much chance before time came. Everything rested on me to bring this off and I was probably the only one who didn't want Angelus dead. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

~~~~

Damned Furies. They insisted on prompt payment and I went back every night with almost nothing left for my boy. But everything was falling together and I would soon have my little Apocalypse. The Furies had agreed to a rest for me starting a night or so before the battle and lasting a while after. I'd gotten that much of a concession at least. But until then it was sex with immortal nymphos every damned day. What was pleasantly exhausting done once or twice was beginning to be a dreaded job as I spent more days immersed in the three ladies. 

It seemed after they spoke today, though, that they intended to save the 'payment' days til they needed them for paying jobs. The prospect that my endless romp in pussy-land would not be a daily affair spurred my flagging enthusiasm for the task at hand. 

I kept my messanger moving, using him as a spy to check on all the parties involved. Things were largely moving smoothly and where they were not I made sure the messanger sent more dire messages. The messenger even seemed pleased with the arrangements. I asked the tiny creature how it felt about what I was doing. "It feels proper," was the response. "Gods used to do this sort of thing all the time. Make wars to watch for amusement, move thousands of lesser beings for their pleasure. Humankind and demonkind have rested easily for far too long in an illusion of relative peace. By the time this ends, millions will die. There will be vendettas and blood feuds and those hunters that have hidden for long ages will awaken to take advantage of the lawlessness and chaos. What Slayers are left will be too busy with ancient awakened horrors to bother with mere vampires. The world will convulse with violence for years. And the last creature you had me contact will make sure humanity does not destroy itself along with everything else." 

I had to smile at that. "Good work. Only three days now til the battle begins. And I won't keep you til the last plays out, only the main first battle. The one which will free me. A little ironic, us both being freed by the same outpouring of blood and gore." 

There was a tinkling of laughter. "I like your sense of humor, vampire lord. I do hope you build your House strong again." 

I thought of certain prospects for joining the House I had in mind. "I will." 

~~~~

Those less knowledgable thought me a mindless blob. I'd been locked into a tub of pure gold, the only element I could not consume. True, eons ago when god-demons had created me I was a pure eater, and a creature of very little intelligence. But I'd had millions of very hungry and boring years with little to do but think. And the same sense that allowed me to sense what elements were around to eat had allowed me to eventually develop far vision. I'd observed humans, learned their languages, read their books, and evenutally talked to their machines. _All_ of their machines. 

And someone had come along with the words to release me and also bind me to a task. I'd have limited freedom on this plane then a portal to a plane full of things I could eat as I chose. I grasped the wisdom of the task. Really, the power of uranium and plutonium and so forth were far too dangerous to leave for humans. To devour their weapons and eat the stores of fuel and then eat the nuclear plants and enrichment machines themselves was a worthy goal. 

So many things to consume. And I knew where they were, and I could travel by willing myself along lines of energy. I was made a fearful little pet to use mostly to dispose of enemies, and my powers were greater than ever after my long hibernation. They were being eaten in short order, and every feeding made me more powerful. And the swarming and shouting and chaos of the humans was very amusing. 

~~~~

I sat at the meeting wringing my hands a bit in worry. "We have clients panicking, especially those in the nuclear arms business. It hasn't hit the media yet because governments are keeping an iron lock on the information but it's known in certain givernment circles we have access to. Nuclear arms are disappearing everywhere, and the story is always the same. There is a mass of gelatinous material that appears and wraps around the missile and then it dissolves, and the material disappears. Shooting weapons doesn't seem to bother the material, it just dissolves the bullets."

Angelus leaned back and shrugged. "Doesn't sound like our problem. Next." 

I grimaced a bit, flexing my jaw muscles. "No. It is our problem. At the very least we need to know what it is." 

Angelus growled. "Fine, Wesley. You spend time on a wild goose chase if you like but leave your department out of it. They're all busy with rush jobs for the Senior Partners. And I want a daily report on your progress." 

I gripped my hands and then relaxed them. "Thank you, Angelus." The words were bitter in my mouth.


	26. Becoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RATING: NC-17  
> PAIRING: Angelus/Spike  
> CONTENT: m/m sex  
> SUMMARY: Angelus finally gets some time to play with Spike; the plots are all about to come to fruition. Twenty-six in the Victory Verse.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

Well so far only Wesley had caught even the barest hint of what was to come, and he was focused on The Eater. The files were useful for so very much, but the CEO's power to block sections from being accessed was perhaps the most useful of all. 

It didn't take long for The Eater to consume all the world's nuclear weapons. And then it diverted slightly from the exact hierarchy of materials to devour, and I can't blame it. I told it above all after the consumption of fissionable materials it should create chaos and uncertainty, and it did that command perfectly. Fukushima and everything heavily irradiated around it dissolved in The Eater's maw. Then Chernobyl. Then Three Mile Island. People were left alive, as were animals, but everything else was eaten. And there was no way to cover it up. The incidents were visible from space. 

No one could ignore it, and no one could figure out what was doing it. The revelation of The Eater provided a welcome boost to the paranoia of all the groups I was seeking to gather. More and more of them were appearing in numbers in Los Angeles. And using my messenger and other little tricks, I had them moved to where I wanted them. 

Only two days remained until my masterstroke would fall. And for once I could spend some sweet time with my boy. The Furies had taken my advice and fled Los Angeles. I had been getting more worried about leaving him with Lindsey every day. He was persuasive and pretty, and Spike was left frustrated every day with him. 

I rang the phone in the playroom. "Hello, my boy. Leave Lindsey alone and be waiting for me on the bed." 

He sounded surprised. "Really? No date with the three ladies tonight?"

"No. And I've got a load of spare energy I want to spend on you. So be waiting for me." 

He chuckled. "Yes, Sire. I'll be ready." 

I hung up. I'd left the door of the playroom unlocked specifically today because I knew I'd be ready to pounce on Spike when I got upstairs. I finished up the last few things I had to do and headed for the elevator. 

There was the warm smell of steam and soap and other good things when I got off in the penthouse. Spike had showered for me, and he was warm and pink from the water, his hair still damp and his skin glistening with oil as he posed for me on the bed. It was my favorite pose, his legs bent under him and his back arched, shoulders resting on the bed, arms stretched above his head and crossed submissively at the wrists. He still had the belt on, of course, but he couldn't have done anything more tempting than this tonight. 

I was beyond teasing with him. I pulled my clothes off, my eyes locked on his the entire time. One hand trailed over his skin as I moved to the end of the bed and began crawling towards him, covering him. He let out a breath. "Being stalked by a lion," he said. 

I beamed a bit inside at the compliment. I took the key from the chain around my neck and unlocked him, easing the belt off and leaving him perfectly naked. He was already painfully hard, his poor cock having been captive all day. With it there at eye level I couldn't help myself. I took a few long licks over the velvet skin and watched Spike arch and shiver. I crawled more over him, kissing and licking and nipping and hearing him whimper for me. I couldn't get enough of that sound. It let me know he was all mine, that he wanted only me. 

I teased now, rolling my hips to rub my cock along his, enough to make him shake with need. "You all ready and lubed for me?" I asked, my voice sounding hoarse even to myself. He nodded. I couldn't play any longer. There would be more time later for gentleness, right now I had to be inside him. I gripped his hips and lifted him as I knelt on the bed. I pulled him up even as I plunged down with my cock, shoving hard inside him. 

He groaned and wrapped his long legs around my hips, pulling himself harder onto me and myself deeper into him. "Greedy," I murmured, with a half-smile on my lips as I slid my hands from his hips to his back, lifting til he was settled upright against me. I held him close as I began to piston upward, driving with my legs to push inside him again and again. 

I didn't stop, I didn't let him stop. I drove him mad with thrusts and nips and kisses and caresses and dirty words whispered darkly in his perfect ear and made him come for me hard and fast and kept driving, intent on seeing how many times, and in how many ways, I could exhaust us both before morning. 

~~~~

Holy bugger he had to have been holding back _something_ from the ladies to have that much left for me, night's rest or no. It would be another day before I could move decently, much less offer a formidable battle challenge to Angelus, even with every edge I could build in. There was something big coming soon, and I had the feeling that soon events might offer just the last advantage I needed. Dru's ghost had come visiting me lately in my sleep, and out of all her usual inscrutable nonsense I was able to get that much. Not long til I might be joining her, or until Daddy might, or both of us. The rest was all rivers of blood, and claws through the air, and a god reborn and dead again. If I wasn't locked up in here the rest might even make sense as well. Unless she was talking about fairies or stars or her dolls she usually really was seeing something prophetic and often useful. 

I missed her mad ways, on a morning like this. I missed her soft slender hands and her gentle liquid eyes. Mostly I just missed knowing it wasn't the two of us, Angelus and myself, alone in the world. All dead now, haughty sexy Darla and mad sweet Drusilla and oh-so-sinful-and-righteous Gabriel and poor misbegotten Sam, all dead and gone. 

Was that why I couldn't bear to kill him? Was it simply that I couldn't stand the thought of being alone? Fuck, if so, how fucking shallow was I? Let the world go to shit so long as I had someone to be with? 

However I did not have time to reflect. For once Angelus had been so sated and exhausted he didn't have me in the usual possessive hold. He was slumped back onto the bed and if I moved ever so carefully...his eye twitched and I froze. But then he snored and turned onto his belly and I slid off the bed. I got to Angel's laptop and clicked away, sending the list of the spell components to Wesley, hitting send, clearing out history and deleting it from the sent file, doing a bit more work to clear the message from the company servers, then sneaking back into bed before Angelus woke. I was safely snuggled against him by the time he awoke with a sleepy smirk. 

The game was afoot. 

~~~~

After a lazy day with Spike I locked him in with Lindsey and went to finish the plan. I had the vessel, a nobody from Accounting who was into some disgusting practices with children I disapproved of. Just was well, he'd be dead before this was over with. I pushed his face over the ancient coffin, touched the crystals, and the dust filled his lungs. He collapsed. Good. 

I turned to the waiting flunkies. "Fly this to the coordinates I gave you. Leave it at the border, avoid a fight. The guardians are there to keep these things in, not out. They'll gladly take the return once they see what it is. Then come back as soon as possible." They nodded and lifted the heavy thing, carrying it onto the waiting jet. 

I chained the vessel down onto an altar right near where I'd infected him. His job was to die at just the right time, releasing the spirit of an elder demon god to claw fury all the way back to the Deeper Well and kill every being in its path as it went. Which, by my design, would include an awfully large portion of the approaching forces, and the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. It was all about timing. 

And like so much else about me, my timing was perfect.


	27. Apocalypse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RATING: NC-17  
> PAIRING: Angelus/Spike  
> CONTENT: massive death  
> SUMMARY: The Apocalypse happens. Twenty-seven in the Victory Verse.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

Ahhhh. Apocalypse Day. Such a wonderful thing to wake up to. By the end of this day I'd be rid of most of my enemies, free of Wolfram and Hart, and undisputed king of what remained. The Eater had finished its tasks in the wee hours and the portal I'd promised had been opened. I had actually been more worried about the Eater than the whole rest of it. But as it was Mankind had to find other ways to make war that didn't involved poisoning the whole damn planet. I needed man for food, as my wayward blond brat had so often pointed out, wouldn't do to have mankind go destroying itself prematurely. Or over-reacting to my little Apocalypse and, say, deciding to nuke Los Angeles. 

Now for the last little few steps. I transferred chunks of money discreetly to pre-arranged havens, had some trunks and so forth shipped out, and all the last minute tasks I had at hand. Then I gathered Spike, Lindsey (appropriately restrained), and Spike's assortment of favorite humans and other creatures. "Field trip," I said. "Wouldn't hurt to have a few weapons on hand just in case. But honestly, this should mostly be a sightseeing trip." My eyes sparkled. This got some raise eyebrows and a few perfunctory questions but a minimum of grumbling. 

Soon enough everyone was gathered at the helipad and off we went. We landed on a prepared warehouse, retrofit with a helipad and two reinforced necroglass chambers. Everyone but Spike and myself were herded into one, which I'd thoughtfully stocked with comfortable chairs and snacks. Spike and I went into the one with the altar and the vessel. Handpicked guard stood outside each and mystical and technological locks kicked in to secure both chambers. 

"Now, William," I said. "Stand over here. Don't want you caught in the death claws of an angry demon elder god heading back to his tomb." 

He moved over near me as his eyebrows went up in surprise. "So that's what Dru was on about," he said. "Came to me in a dream, saying something about claws and a dead god." 

I chuckled. "Sounds like her." As I pulled out the ceremonial knife, I saw some signs of activity in the other chamber. A ritual circle? What the hell did Wesley think he was up to? I turned back to Spike and got the idea that whatever it was, Spike was in on it as Spike pulled his sword. Well, time enough for ceremony later. I hated not being able to savor the moment, but I plunged the dagger deep into the vessel's chest quick and dirty. There was a screaming and a burst of dark energy that knocked us both down, and a stream of jagged black claws that shot out across the land and sky headed just where I'd predicted. There was a satisfying wake of darkness and death, birds falling from the sky, swaths of desolate cracked black concrete and steel with rended dead flesh, even a few planes screaming in flames from the air. 

We both recovered and got back to our feet, circling each other with swords in hand. I didn't have to, nor did I want to kill the little shit. I'd worked too hard to keep him, and I still intended on keeping him. I just needed to knock him down definitively enough and quickly enough to stop whatever spell Wesley had going. 

As we circled, Spike started intoning some enchantments. His sword sparkled and briefly, so did he. What the h... _Lindsey_. Now Lindsey I could and would kill. I should have resisted the urge to keep him around for information and to make a pet of him. This was probably all Lindsey's hare-brained scheme anyway. 

I lunged in and clashed swords with him, trying and failing to push him back. He was much stronger, dammit, than he'd been before. This wasn't going to be some quick decision and I settled in to try to look for some opening to knock him down as our swords rang against each other again and again. 

~~~~

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckity fucking fuck. He got the dead god he wanted, and the deaths of millions. Crazy wanker. Though I had the vague suspicion Wolfram and Hart was in that line of death. Angelus was never much for playing on a team or being controlled, even loosely. Once I saw the set-up I'd counted on some ritual being needed. Shoulda let him get deep in ritual then taken him down, even at the possible cost of him getting it off anyway. As it was I had to fight desperately and hope Wesley could pull it off. And if he did, that it wouldn't kill Angelus and me both. 

I hadn't had to research the spell. Not recently, anyway. I'd investigated it back after I'd settled into my soul, just in case I ever decided on making a childe. If it worked.... I set it aside in my head and focused on the fight. I wasn't trying to win the fight, just hold Angelus off. I put everything into defense, settling into some serene Zen-like place inside myself. 

I could feel the spell building, feel the pull of it. I knew when it was coming and I dropped my guard, let Angelus get to me. I grabbed his wrist to make contact between us. 

There was an explosion of light between us, our eyes both flashing green, and we both howled in pain. My world went dark and cold and I slipped into unconsciousness. 

~~~~

My last thought as the blast went off was, 'How the fuck did he find an Orb of Thessulah?' But then I saw his eyes before I blacked out and I had no thoughts sufficient for that moment.


	28. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RATING: NC-17  
> PAIRING: Angelus/Spike  
> CONTENT: bloodplay; mentions of character death.   
> SUMMARY: Angelus wakes up to find out what happened. Twenty-eight in the Victory Verse. NOTE: This is the end of this section of the Victory Verse, consider it complete. There might be a sequel later but I have other projects on deck right now.   
> SPOILERS: Through Angel S5 x21 - "Power Play"  
> DISCLAIMER: Playing wit the boys, but we’re just having fun. No money made, don’t sue us! (or, in more formal language-   
> **Copyright Disclaimer** I do not own any characters, products or services depicted in this story which you recognize. Original characters/characterization and plot are mine. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series characters are OOC and I cite section 107 of the US copyright clause on 'fair use' to be found [**HERE** ](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)  
>  Principally this is a transformative work, for enjoyment only, has a selective audience and I make no profit. )

I'd done most of the job of watching both he and Spike. Gunn and Lindsey, yes Lindsey, were taking care of security and Lorne and Fred took care of everyone's needs and kept up with the small apocalypse raging outside. 

It seemed most of the world's Slayers and Watchers, and a goodly portion of the more malevolent and organized demon clans, had been wiped out in the path of black destruction that ripped a line from Los Angeles to somewhere in England. So had Wolfram and Hart. It seemed the power of an Elder Demon god was enough to kill even the Senior Partners. The line didn't travel straight, it followed a tangle of ley lines and weaker connecting lines of mystic force. The West was mostly spared, aside from sacred Native American sites that exploded and turned black, drained of force. The South hadn't been so lucky. Houston, New Orleans, and Savannah had all experienced the cold rip of the line and were devastated. Many small towns got caught in the path and utterly eliminated from the face of the earth. Then it curved up to Salem, then across the Atlantic. The New Watcher's Council Building was caught in the line there. 

Among the dead, I was saddened to learn Willow was caught in Los Angeles, along with her partner. Giles had been in transit to Los Angeles and was spared, as were Buffy and Dawn and Andrew, still dealing with some problem in Italy. Xander was still in Africa, seeking help for his missing eye, and was safe. 

All the world's plutonium and uranium seemed to be gone. All that was left was tiny amounts held in x-ray machines. But the baffling creature seemed to be gone. The disappearance of all the nuclear weapons, along with the massive death, had sparked war, not stopped it. Conventional weapons reigned again and Russia sought to reconquer Ukraine and all the rest of what it had lost and the world seemed poised for another world war. 

In Los Angeles itself, the city still struggled to recover as little battles in the streets continued between bands of slayers and mobs of demons. Angelus had seemed to have anticipated this and the warehouse was both well-placed and well-reinforced to withstand assaults. The few security men smoothly took orders from any of us and seemed pleasant enough, so they had remained. 

Over Angelus this whole time, a tiny golden spark that made tinkling noises had hovered. It pulsed as if not entirely in this dimension and we simply decided not to bother it. Why did we not just kill him? Spike didn't want it. Spike had risked a lot to do this. And right now, about two-thirds of Spike's soul rested inside Angelus. 

The spell had been one Spike shared with me not long after his resurrection in our offices. It was a spell to help ensoul a fledgling with one's own soul as a 'starter'. The soul part left to him, Spike had been assured, would stay in contact with the severed part and both would grow fast to full soul status. He hoped, Spike had hoped, to give Angelus a real soul. One that would work with his demon, like it worked with Spike's demon. One that would allow him to be a more restrained vampire without losing himself or being locked away. One that would let Spike be with him without stupid bargains or endless worries. 

Spike loved Angelus, despite all. He wanted him. And he was willing to risk his own hard-won soul to do it. So here I sat, dribbling blood into Angelus' open mouth. Angelus had been good about drinking, and was healthy. Spike not so much. He was paler that usual, and far too thin and frail. He still breathed periodically in his sleep, as he'd always done. He looked like delicate china and like a touch could break him. And he all but refused to feed. He'd occasionally swallow a mouthful, just enough to keep from dusting. 

Then Angelus began to stir. "Spike," he whispered weakly. "Feels like his soul is in me, Wesley. Where is he? He dead?" His voice was urgent. Then the gold tinkling thing pushed against his face. He sighed. "Sorry. I release and free you from all bond and service. You did well." The gold tinkling thing disappeared with an almost relieved sound. 

"I'm not going to ask. He's alive, Angelus. Not by much, but still alive." 

Angelus looked a mix of angered and stricken. He pushed up with a groan, slowly and stiffly. "Take me to him." He was, of course, naked under the sheet. I'd dealt with him naked for a month now but it was somehow different with him awake and I turned, grabbing a robe. 

"Want this?" I asked. 

"Fuck that. Take me to him. Order blood." 

"He's in the next room, Angelus." 

"Good." Angelus pushed open the connecting door and I followed, trying hard not to look.

Spike lay there under the sheet, breathing shallowly, pale and almost translucent. Angelus shook his head. "Why isn't he feeding? Did you try to find out?"

"I've counseled with the shaman who created the spell. It was intended to be used on a newly-made childe, not a vastly-evil elder vampire. The only thing I was told was that 'channels may be blocked'. He refused to elaborate on that statement in any dialect I could translate." 

Angelus shook his head and scowled. " Hmmm, 'vastly-evil'? Got a soul now, apparently." He looked down at Spike and sighed. "You always were a romantic, my boy." He crawled into the bed with Spike and curled around him. He stroked his cheek and Spike pressed into the hand with a tiny purr. Angelus' eyes widened. "I feel something. A tug on that soul. Much nicer that the nasty other, by the way, Wes. Maybe because it's his. Soft and fragrant, like jasmine, like him." He looked up. "Have that blood waiting in the other room. And no offense, Wes, but get out unless you want my cock up your ass, cos we're about to do something very intimate and if something fuckable is in the room it's getting fucked." 

I squeaked in a most unmanly fashion and fled. Even though I was honestly in a small way tempted to find out what it was like to be fucked by him.

~~~~

When I first felt the soul I was worried it would be another cage. But it wasn't. It was a warm soft glow. And there was some sort of whispering going on between it and my demon. Some sort of negotiations. Hmmm. 

Then it was like Spike's bit of soul was trying to join the conversation. I knew how to make that happen and to get some blood into him. I held him close and slit open a cut on my wrist, pressing it against his mouth. 

Spike licked, then latched on with fangs and drank. He was ravenous, but I was well enough to feed him for a bit before I had to refill. And there it was. His demon was weak and mine cuddled it the way I cuddled him. And the two warm glows merged together and the demons were bathed in the warmth. I felt alive. I'm sure my heart even beat several times and I breathed slowly for no reason. And I could feel something, something I could barely identify. Love. Not lust, not possession, though those were wrapped in it, but the pure hot passion of true demon love. Love that made Spike risk himself to do this for me. Fuck. 

Spike slowed and licked the wound closed. "Too much," he whispered. "Too much for now."

He was right, dammit, right about everything. I'd never stop being evil, it was part of me, but I could hold back enough Spike could be with me. Hold back enough not to blacken the precious soul he'd given me. He used to say there was a difference between our souls and he was right. He'd fought for this one and it was no curse. No foulness, no poisonous judgement. I pulled covers over us and wrapped him in my body. He purred and settled in, eyes closing in sleep. 

Damn him. I chuckled a bit inside. He'd won me, and not the other way around. Just like the fight that had started this whole thing. It was Spike's Victory, though he'd never hear me admit it.


End file.
